The great-aunt of a teenager who jumped in the East River kept a sad watch Sunday over the lower Manhattan waterfront as police divers conducted their third day of searching for the missing boy.
Alena Godfrey, 60, believes her 13-year-old grandnephew, Kavion Brown, was goaded into jumping Friday by his friends as a dare.
“They need to go into social media, into these schools, and find out what kids was with him,” Godfrey said. “Because quite a few kids, I’m hearing, was with him.”
Kavion jumped into the water off East River Park near E. 6th St. just after 4 p.m. Friday, sparking a search including boats and divers from the NYPD Harbor Unit and an Aviation Unit chopper. As of Sunday, the boy still has not been found.
“He took his clothes off. He was in his basketball shorts and he went over in the water,” Godfrey said. “He never came back up.”
Godfrey, who lives in Midtown, stood sentinel by the river because Kavion’s grandmother — her sister —asked her to be there if police pull his body from the water.
An NYPD patrol car was parked on the pedestrian walkway near joggers and people with fishing poles as a soccer game was played on a nearby field.
“We watched the scuba divers and everything,” Godfrey said of the start of her vigil Saturday. “We kept watching and then when the sun was going down, you know, it’s not too much that they can do. We went home. I got up this morning. I did the same thing.”
The divers searched the water while the tide was low on Sunday.
“This water here, it’s a death trap,” she said. “I’ve said to these people, y’all need to do something about these fences and this water.”
Sergio Perryman, 32, a Manhattan resident and frequent parkgoer, said the water looks deceptively safe.
Rebecca White for NY Daily News
Alena Godfrey, 60, stood and watched the river Sunday, wondering if her 13-year-old grandnephew, Kavion Brown, was goaded into jumping Friday by his friends.
“If you fall into that, that could be rough,” he said. “You can see only a couple of inches deep and then there’s no telling what lies underneath in terms of debris, whatever, and then on top of that there’s virtually no exit points.”
Godfrey described Kavion as a typical, sports-loving teen and the oldest of four brothers.
“He’s a regular child,” she said. “He love his sports. He plays basketball. He plays with his brothers. They go to school every day.”
Kavion started high school this fall, she said.
“He listens to music. He plays video games. He loves his video games. But he’s a quiet child and he’s not a street child. He’s not a street child. They’re family oriented. Everything they do together,” she said.
“His family and his parents stay on top of him…. Those kids have Christmas every year, Halloween every year. They take them to a lot of amusement parks. They go to a lot of outdoor activities. They go go-kart riding and laser tag.”
“We need to know what happened,” she added. “My sister is not going to let this go. She said she needs to know what happened to her grandson.”
NY State Police are asking motorists to avoid the Palisades Interstate Parkway in response to severe flooding. (New York State Police/New York State Police)
Highland Falls, West Point, Cornwall and parts of Rockland and Putnam counties were hardest hit, according to Ryan.
Gov. Hochul issued a state of emergency for Orange County in response to what she described as “life-threatening flooding,” urging residents living in affected areas to gather supplies and head for higher ground.
State police are instructing motorists to steer clear of the Palisades Interstate Parkway, Long Mountain Circle, Route 6 and the Bear Mountain Bridge due to major flooding.
NY State Police are asking motorists to avoid the Palisades Interstate Parkway in response to severe flooding. (New York State Police/New York State Police)
The Palisades Parkway northbound from exit 14 to Long Mountain Traffic Circle has been closed, state police said.
New York City was subject to a city-wide flash flood warning Sunday night into Monday morning due to excessive rainfall, and anyone living in basement apartments and flood-prone areas should be prepared to make for higher ground, officials said.
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.
Waleed Afridi (Obtained by Daily News)
“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.
Rough seas are seen at Rockaway Beach near Beach 74th Street in Queens, New York City after a person was pulled from the water on Sunday, July 2, 2023. (Gardiner Anderson/for New York Daily News)
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.
Police respond to Rockaway Beach near Beach 74th Street in Queens, New York City after a person was pulled from the water on Sunday, July 2, 2023. (Gardiner Anderson/for New York Daily News)
“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.”
Former Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett, who also played for New England, Houston and Baltimore during five seasons in the NFL, has died in Florida after apparently drowning. He was 35.
Mallett died in an apparent drowning, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. Mallett was a football coach at White Hall High School in his native Arkansas, and the school district also confirmed his death in a post on its website on Tuesday.
Ryan Mallett #15 of the New England Patriots throws the ball prior to the game against the Miami Dolphins on December 2, 2012 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Joel Auerbach / Getty Images
Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek said the university “lost an incredibly special person.”
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and teammates of Ryan Mallett,” Yurachek posted on Twitter.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said deputies said a group of people in the water near the second sandbar had reportedly been struggling to make it back to shore. A man, who officials later identified as Mallett, went under and lifeguards said he was not breathing when he was pulled out.
He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Mallett played for the University of Michigan for one season before finishing his college career at Arkansas. He passed for 7,493 yards and 62 touchdowns in two seasons with the Razorbacks.
Mallett was selected by New England in the third round of the 2011 NFL draft. He appeared in four games with the Patriots during the 2012 season, completing 1 of 4 passes for 17 yards.
The New England Patriots are deeply saddened to learn of the sudden and unexpected passing of former quarterback Ryan Mallett.
Our thoughts are with the Mallett family, his former teammates and all who are mourning his loss. pic.twitter.com/TUpa7cpXoS
New England coach Bill Belichick said he was “extremely saddened by Ryan’s tragic passing.”
“My thoughts and prayers are with his family and the many people whose lives he touched,” Belichick said in a statement posted by the team on Twitter.
Tom Brady was among several of Mallett’s former Patriots teammates who reacted to the news on social media.
“We lost a great man. Thank you for everything Ryan,” Brady wrote in an Instagram story.
“Tough one to swallow,” former Patriots receiver Julian Edelman tweeted.
“Rest in peace Ryan Mallet!” former New England running back James White wrote. “Gone way too soon, sending my condolences to his family!”
Mallett made six starts in nine games with the Texans and two starts in eight appearances with the Ravens. He completed 190 of his 345 attempts in the NFL for 1,835 yards and nine touchdowns with 10 interceptions.
“Ryan was a part of us,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said in a Twitter post by the team. “I will always remember the love he had for his teammates and for making the most of, and enjoying every football day while here.”
In his first start on Nov. 16, 2014, Mallett directed Houston to a 23-7 victory at Cleveland. His first career TD pass was a 2-yarder to defensive end J.J. Watt.
“Horrible news to read about Ryan Mallett,” Watt posted on Twitter. “Gone way too soon. Rest in Peace brother.”
Former Boston Red Sox player Will Middlebrooks wrote on social media that he had lost his “best friend.”
I lost my best friend today. Someone who has stuck by my side since we were just kids. The most competitive, hard headed, fun loving person I ever met. Nothing prepares you for this. I was lucky to have him for as long as I did. Rest in Love One-Five. We love you. pic.twitter.com/u8GQ86rl2m
“I lost my best friend today,” Middlebrooks wrote. “Someone who has stuck by my side since we were just kids. The most competitive, hard headed, fun loving person I ever met. Nothing prepares you for this. I was lucky to have him for as long as I did. Rest in Love One-Five. We love you.”
The body of a missing teenager was recovered from a lake in southwestern New Jersey, officials said Monday. The high school senior had been participating in a “scavenger hunt that went astray,” according to an online fundraiser set up on behalf of the family.
Officials identified the 18-year-old as Victor Rodriguez, a senior at Pitman High School. His body was found in Alcyon Lake in Gloucester County.
Victor Rodriguez
GoFundMe
“It is with great sadness that after just over 17 hours of tedious and demanding work by many first responders, Victor has been recovered,” Pitman Mayor Michael Razze said in a statement. “The mutual love and support of our community will help to carry us through this difficult time. On behalf of the entire borough, our deepest condolences to his family, friends, fellow students, and the PHS Class of 2023.”
The search for Rodriguez started on Sunday night, CBS Philadelphia reported. First responders were called to the lake shortly before 8:45 p.m. Sunday, Pitman Police Chief Dan McAteer said.
According to McAteer, the teen lost control while trying to swim across the lake and became submerged. There were two other people at the lake and both tried to help but became overwhelmed and came back to shore.
“My understanding is that it can be as much as 10 feet,” McAteer said of how deep the lake is.
According to a junior Pitman High School student, the teen was participating in what they call the “senior scavenger,” which the student said has gone on for more than 15 years
The student said one of the challenges is to swim across Alcyon Lake for points.
“Because it’s known for being nasty,” the student said, “so people are like, ‘swim across this nasty lake,’ and you get a lot of points for it.”
The search was handled by the New Jersey State Police, Gloucester County Emergency Management and other local police and fire departments in South Jersey.
No students were required to report to Pitman High School on Monday. The building remained open with emotional support services available to students throughout the day.
All exams scheduled for Monday and Tuesday were canceled.
A GoFundMe to support Rodriguez’s family has raised over $50,000.
A father who drowned last week while trying to rescue his child from a rip current at the Jersey Shore was a New York City firefighter whose career in public service dated back 15 years, officials confirmed on Sunday.
The man, 39-year-old Mark Batista, died at the New Jersey beach town Avon-by-the-Sea on Friday morning while he off duty after jumping into the ocean to save his teenage daughter, who was caught in a rip current at the time, CBS New York reported, citing police. A rip current is essentially channel of moving water, somewhat like a river, that forms in the ocean and flows away from the shoreline and out to sea.
Authorities originally identified Batista as a resident of Teaneck, but they did not release his name. The New York City Fire Department later confirmed his identity in a statement obtained by CBS News on Sunday, which noted that he had served as both an EMT and a firefighter for the department over the course of 15 years. Batista worked at Engine Company 226 in Brooklyn, according to CBS New York.
“We are heartbroken to learn about the death of Firefighter Mark Batista, who died Friday while swimming at the Jersey Shore,” the FDNY said in the statement. “Firefighter Batista was a dedicated public servant who spent fifteen years serving in the FDNY, as both an EMT and a firefighter. We join his family in mourning his tragic passing.”
FDNY Firefighter Mark Batista drowned in Avon-by-the-Sea, New Jersey, on June 9, 2023, while trying to save his daughter, who was caught in a rip current.
FDNY
Police and a water rescue team used jet skis to search for Batista and his daughter at the beach on Friday, after witnesses on land observed and reported the apparent drowning, CBS New York reported. Batista was found and then transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The teenager survived and was taken to Jersey Shore Medical Center after her rescue.
There were reportedly no lifeguards on duty at the Avon-by-the-Sea beach where Batista drowned on Friday. Regular weekday lifeguard shifts will begin this coming weekend, according to the city’s website.
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Hemet, California — It happened in a matter of seconds. Security video showed 18-month-old Cole Petite shimmying out of his life preserver.
He then walked over to the family pool in Winchester, California, and slipped beneath the surface of the water.
“Just like a bag of bricks, just straight down to the bottom,” his father, Zachary Petite, told CBS News.
Petite was just feet away, putting sunblock on his daughter. He made a dive for his son and rescued him from the water.
“I think that I acted in any way that any normal parent would’ve reacted,” Petite said.
As a firefighter in nearby Hemet — which is located about 80 miles east of downtown Los Angeles — Petite has responded to drownings before. So at home, he has a pool fence and motion detectors.
“If I had gone inside, ‘Hey, I’m gonna go grab something to drink real quick, I’m gonna go use the restroom.’ That small amount of time could have been the difference between, you know, us planning a funeral or not,” Petite said.
An estimated 4,000 deaths per year in the U.S. are caused by unintentional drownings, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is one of the leading killers of children ages 1 to 4, with most drownings occurring in home swimming pools, the CDC says.
The American Lifeguard Association (ALA) reported that half of the nation’s 309,000 public pools could be forced to close or reduce their hours due to a lifeguard shortage.
“They’re not going to have a place to go and they’re going to start seeking out lakes, ponds, levies, waterway canals,” said Wyatt Werneth, an ALA spokesperson. “There’s no lifeguard there, and we’re gonna see more drownings as a result of it.”
Petite and the Hemet Fire Department posted home security camera video of the rescue to social media in the hopes of educating parents about water safety.
“I think if it ends up making a parent, making one parent, pay just a little bit more attention, and saves one kid from drowning, and then our message was successful,” Petite said.
Sandy León has worn many jersey numbers during a long career in Major League Baseball.
To understand the gravity of the No. 12 that adorns the catcher’s uniform this season with the Texas Rangers, he has to revisit the worst day of his life.
That was Aug. 18, 2020. León, then playing for Cleveland, had just arrived by bus to the team hotel in Pittsburgh when he called his wife, Liliana, who was at home in Fort Myers, Florida, with their two small children.
He was growing concerned after several unanswered calls. Then he began getting alerts from his home security system.
“That happens when somebody is making a lot of noise in the house, when the camera gets the sounds,” León said.
He logged onto an app where he can monitor the cameras in their home. He discovered a horrifying scene with Liliana and their then-15-month-old daughter, Nahomy.
“My wife was screaming, and she was praying,” León recalled. “She was saying words I didn’t understand. Then I saw (Nahomy) on the ground. She was purple. She was dead.”
Sandy Leon #12 of the Texas Rangers reacts after hitting a home run during a spring training game against the San Francisco Giants at Surprise Stadium on March 3, 2023 in Surprise, Arizona.
/ Getty Images
Little Nahomy had wandered outside and slipped through an open gate to a backyard pool. She fell in the water trying to grab a rubber duck.
When a frantic Liliana discovered her, she was motionless and floating face down in the pool. She jumped in, grabbed the girl and rushed her to the kitchen, where she called 911 while trying to revive her.
Nahomy wasn’t breathing. The natural color had drained from her tiny body.
“She was dying, she was dying”
“She looked black, deeply black,” Liliana said. “I tried to open her eyes and it was blank. I don’t see her eyes. All the things that I looked on her, she was dying, she was dying, she was dying.”
Liliana hadn’t been trained in CPR, but she tried it anyway. She pressed on Nahomy’s chest again and again.
“I did CPR like five times, but nothing happened,” Liliana said. “She didn’t do anything.”
Getting no response, she abandoned her resuscitation efforts.
Needing a miracle, she did the one thing she thought could help.
“The only one who could do something for her was God,” Liliana said. “So, I just prayed. Holy spirit help me. Holy spirit help me. Because I knew that my daughter was dying.”
She screamed that plea over and over while an ambulance raced to the house. Meanwhile, a terror-stricken Sandy desperately tried to comprehend what he was witnessing on that tiny screen.
Liliana clutched her dying daughter’s tiny hand. It was then she noticed a small sign that gave her hope.
“I started to see in her fingers, at the bottom of her fingers, that it was a little bit pink,” Liliana said. “Then all of her body color started to change, and she began to look like a normal, live person.”
The mother wept as her daughter began showing signs of life.
“Then she started to breathe,” she said. “But it was really, really difficult and really, like, forced.”
Relief washed over Liliana.
“In that moment I was like, ‘Oh my God it happened,’” she said. “‘She’s alive again.’”
Paramedics soon rushed in. As they worked on Nahomy, they peppered Liliana with questions about what happened.
The big one: How long was she in the pool?
Liliana didn’t know. But she told them there was a surveillance camera they could check.
Nahomy was taken to a hospital, sedated and placed on a ventilator while the water was drained from her lungs.
Still unable to reach Liliana, Sandy talked to a neighbor, who provided scant details.
“She told me (Liliana) brought her back and then the ambulance came,” Sandy said.
Sitting in that faraway room in Pittsburgh, Sandy was at a loss.
“I was having a hard time at the hotel,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do.”
Needing help, he called someone from the team. Officials chartered a private jet so he could get to his baby girl immediately.
Liliana was sitting in the hospital room with Nahomy when authorities who saw the video – which the Leóns showed to The Associated Press – came in to talk to her about what they saw.
“They looked at me with that face that something really, really bad happened,” she said. “And they told me from the time she fell, until the time you picked her up was 12 minutes.”
Twelve minutes.
“When I heard them say that she was in the pool for that long, I broke down,” Sandy said. “I was like, ‘She’s not coming back.’”
Doctors warned the family that even if Nahomy awoke, she was almost certain to have brain damage because of how long she was in the water.
They cautioned that she might not be able to walk, talk or do everyday things that people take for granted. The next 72 hours, they said, would be crucial in discovering what toll this had taken on Nahomy.
Sandy arrived in Fort Meyers at about 8 p.m. that night. He was not prepared for what he saw.
“She was in the bed with all the tubes, and she still wasn’t breathing by herself,” he said. “It was tough. I didn’t know what to do. I went to my wife, and I just hugged her.”
The couple spent that night in the small room with their little girl as she fought for her life.
A groggy Sandy woke up at 6:30 the next morning and couldn’t believe his eyes.
“I saw my daughter on her knees on the bed,” he said. “She’s awake. I don’t know what happened.”
By 10 that morning, she was breathing by herself. She started talking immediately when tubes were removed from her throat.
“She just said: ‘Papi you’re here,’” Liliana recalled. “He said: ‘Yes, I’m here baby, with you.’”
The Leóns were encouraged, but doctors still cautioned that Nahomy could have physical difficulties. But later that day, they removed the remainder of the tubes and put her on the floor.
“And she started running,” Sandy said. “The doctors couldn’t believe it.”
“She has no idea, but it’s so special for me.”
Nahomy spent a few days in the hospital recovering and undergoing tests to make sure she was OK. Everything came back clean, and the family got to go home. The medical team told the Leóns they couldn’t explain Nahomy’s recovery. A few called it a miracle.
She’s perfectly healthy now and has no lingering effects from the harrowing experience. She’ll turn 4 later this month and revels in being a girly girl, loving anything that’s pink or sparkly.
“She really likes to think she is a princess,” Liliana said. “She really loves her dad. She’s a daddy’s girl. And she loves to sing, dance. She is a normal girl.”
The Leóns shared their story with the AP before news this weekend that the 2-year-old daughter of Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Shaquil Barrett drowned in a swimming pool at the family’s home.
Last year, several family members were reminiscing about what happened to Nahomy and her remarkable recovery in a group text. Someone suggested to Sandy – a journeyman catcher who has now worn seven different numbers with six teams – that he change to No. 12 to mark that interminable time she spent in the pool.
It wasn’t available last year in Minnesota. But when he joined the Rangers this season, he finally got the number that means so much to his family.
And each time he buttons up that jersey and puts the No. 12 across his back, he says a little prayer to give thanks that the number didn’t take his beloved Nahomy away.
“I feel blessed and grateful every time I go onto the field knowing that she’s normal and nothing happened,” he said. “She has no idea, but it’s so special for me.”
Texas Rangers’ Sandy Leon (12) walks on the field during a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, May 3, 2023.
An Aurora, Illinois, police officer rescued a 9-year-old boy struggling in an icy pond and a woman who had tried to save the child. All three were pulled ashore and are in good condition.
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