NYC teen’s father recounts fateful moment 14-year-old drowned

As Queens teenager Waleed Afridi played in the surf off of Rockaway Beach, the risk of his drowning was the furthest thing from his father’s mind.

“The waves … is not that much high. He was not even in danger because I was there,” dad Naeem Afridi told the Daily News on Tuesday. “As a father, I was there.”

He said he looked away for a moment to take a video that fateful Sunday. Then the current shifted.

“The beach is not safe. They are supposed to do something about the safety,” said the father. “The beach is not safe.”

He’d taken his 14-year-old son to Rockaway’s sandy shore near Beach 74th St. at around 6 p.m. when a riptide sucked the teenager out to sea, according to the victim’s cousin.

“His pops took him to the beach to have some good time,” said cousin Khalid Afridi. “I think the tide came and took him back.”

“It was so fast,” he added.

Khalid Afridi said his cousin was a poor swimmer who likely panicked as the powerful current swept him away from shore.

“I would say he didn’t know how to swim.,” he said. “He probably panicked and when you panic in that situation, the water is going to overcome you.”

The beach was closed to swimming and lifeguards were off duty when Waleed took his fateful plunge, according to officials.

Retired lifeguard Basia Lewandowski and fellow lifeguard Amanda Reynolds were nearby when they saw the teen floundering in the waves and took action.

Reynolds immediately dove into the sea as Lewandowski sprinted across a jetty in an effort to direct her partner towards the drowning boy, she said.

“Amanda’s in the water and I ran out on the jetty, running point so I could direct her where to go,” she told The News on Sunday.

The retired lifeguard then joined other rescuers in the water, where they formed a line in order to sweep the coast in hopes of spotting the submerged teen, Lewandowski said.

“We did our protocol, which is a diving line,” the retired lifeguard said. “All the lifeguards line up and we sweep the water.”

Precious minutes ticked by before one of the rescuers happened upon the unconscious teen and the swimmers began the arduous task of towing him back to shore, according to Lewandoski.

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“He was really heavy so getting him out was kind of hard,” she said. “It’s a miracle that we found him.”

The teen was foaming at the mouth as rescuers worked to resuscitate him before an ambulance arrived, Lewandowski said.

Medics rushed him to St. John’s Hospital but he could not be saved, according to police.

Waleed had recently graduated from eighth grade and was looking forward to attending high school before his drowning, his cousin said.

“He was ready to go to high school and life didn’t give him a chance,” said Khalid Afridi. “It’s really heartbreaking. You know, it was all of a sudden.”

He hopes his cousin’s death will prompt parents to teach their kids how to swim.

“Teach your children how to swim, it is very important,” he said. “You can save yourself, your life, someone else’s.”