COUSIN CARL CHECKS IN THIS MORNING 8/11/36

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:32

We had an incident over the weekend, and next on you may not have uh heard that maybe you did about a uh a young child, uh a child of some sort getting a young girl getting swept out into the ocean with a lot of people.

SPEAKER_03 0:50

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Yes, he's uh a phys ed teacher always working out, a very strong 47-year-old father of four from uh the Georgia area, Loganville, went out to save this young girl, uh was successful, but but people say he collapsed. Now I don't know if he collapsed and got swept out to sea because of a medical incident or if he got swept out to sea in general, but he ended up uh dying and drowning. Um I don't know if they did an autopsy and determined something else, but uh to comment on this uh horrible, horrible situation, these you know, people on vacation here is my cousin Carl, who used to be a lifeguard as well. Good morning.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Good morning, Liz, good morning, Nick, and thank you again for having me on your show.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Thank you for your insight on this. So tell us a little bit about what you know about rip currents and red flags and double red flags on beaches.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

You know, uh it's a simple it's a simple solution, but we need people to exercise common sense and the heroism of the way in which Derek Moore lived his life is what should be remembered. A school teacher, a father of four, and he went in his final act to to s to assist a swimmer that was in distress. This is an avoidable situation on so many levels. First and foremost, all swimmers should only go in the water when a lifeguard is on duty. And even if lifeguards are on duty, to your point earlier, if the beach is is red flagged, you should not be you should not be in the water. And this is a senseless tragedy that's happened so many times this summer alone. Uh another part of the country, there was someone in distress, and I think multiple adults jumped in the water to help, none of whom could swim. And I think four adults drowned in that situation. And uh in Rockway Beach, Queens, where I reside, just this weekend, after hours, two swimmers went in. Uh they were both recovered, but one died at the one died at the hospital, you know, and having you know, and having been a lifeguard supervisor for New York City for 28 summers, right where the parachute jump is for any of uh our transplants that are down there. When you are involved with a ripcomer, it's it's a simple solution. If you find yourself in that situation, simply the rip current is not that wide, uh coming outbound from the shoreline. So if you feel yourself, you know, getting pushed out to sea, a couple of strokes to the left or to the right, and uh you'll be you'll be free from its grasp and you'll be and you'll be okay. You know, so you see so many media outlets report the same information every year, but we need as a society to listen and we need parents to be parents, you know. If you don't see the lifeguards on duty and you have little ones or big ones or elderly ones, just avoid the temptation of Mother Nature and live to swim another day. Uh my heart goes out to Mr. Moore's uh children, four four four children without a dad. Yeah. You know, just so heartbreaking.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

And you know what else? Um the uh the uncle of the girl who got swept out into the water, he was with her. She was not out in the water alone, and Derek Moore saved both of them. Um that is new information that we got today. Uh the Atlanta TV station said uh that um uh uh his name is Killy Arthur. And uh he said that he and his niece were out there swimming uh uh when they got swept out. Uh this man came running out seeing them in distress, Derek Moore, and uh he apologized to the whole family and saying, Oh my god, and could you imagine being responsible for this um hero drowning or collapsing guy you know, and I'm sure you see that too uh when you were lifeguarding that people will have an email a medical emergency which then turns into a drowning emergency.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

But you know, I'm gonna speculate that Mr. Moore wasn't right where he needed to be to assist these people, so he probably sprinted over, so that gets the heart up and going. And now you're s now you're swimming to these people, which is is not easy, you know, when there's an undertow or a rip. Now you get there, you're straining yourself.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

You know, and uh it's a strenuous, it's a strenuous estimate. A lot of adrenaline. One hundred one hundred percent. And and I could I could tell you specifically of one rescue that I made, which was a long time ago, that I wasn't where I exactly would have preferred to have been to assist. And by the time I got out of the water, I mean my chest was expanding and collapsing so rapidly, and at that time I was a young buck, 23 years of age. Could you imagine someone that's a little bit older? And I'm sure he was a phys ed teacher and in good shape, but you know, lifeguards exercise uh pretty much daily and they do emergency drills to prepare for situations. He didn't have the luxury to have the lifeguard there, so you know, again, swimming after hours with no lifeguards on duty really puts you behind the eight ball in a situation like this. And I I can't imagine what that little girl's feeling because she obviously witnessed what went on while she was uh, you know, while she was at the beach with her uncle and just a tragic loss that could have been avoided with some common sense. No lifeguards on duty, or lifeguards are on duty, and it's red flagged. You you gotta stay out of the water. You just gotta stay out of the water. Mother Nature is she reigns supreme and she uh she humbles us quite frequently.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Yeah. I mean the lifeguards had just gone off duty, but you know, there's been a lot of talk about these drone-operated lifesaver dropping, you know, like devices. Yeah, they they fly out there and uh they can drop a uh a flotation device. They get there real quick before uh uh even a lifeguard can get there, and a lifeguard can operate it.

SPEAKER_03 6:51

I think a demonstration on these things. It looks pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

And in theory, I mean I can see it working. And they have some that have cameras, so you can actually go out there and see the person drop the you know, but that's of course if the person's conscious and able to uh reach for it. But um, you know, things like that. I mean, you wonder why don't we have them? I know they're money, but they could just save lives all around. You know, people, you know, break glass in an emergency and get this drone out there, you know.

SPEAKER_02 7:21

Well, the drones uh I I could speak about New York City. The drones are being phased in, uh, specifically in Rockaway Beach because the the waters are more treacherous there than Coney Island. The drones are effective. I know that New York City, the FDNY is utilizing the drones uh after hours to and they're patrolling. They they they get airborne pretty quick, and the optics on these drone cameras are better than your high-depth TV. I mean, the clarity is amazing, and then they're able to deploy that flotation device from you know from above. They just drop it right down and inflates. But to your point, Liz, once again, you need the swimmer to be a conscious swimmer to grab on that device.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

You know, so that they can't so that they can float. And the flip side of the drones, they've been utilized. Rockaway Beach has had bull sharks close to shore. They're using them for shite uh for shark sightings as well. But the device does work. Uh, my dear friend Joe Downey from the FDY, uh, he oversees that operation in New York City. And the drones are effective. But yet again, Liz, you need a conscious swimmer to be able to grab the device. So the best words of wisdom we could give uh our fellow swimmers, you know, swim when a lifeguard's on duty and available if the thread flag, you gotta stay on the shoreline. And if there is a rip, you gotta swim parallel to shore and you know, refocus, and then you and you'll be okay. And you know, it sounds like a broken record, but how many people are we losing, you know, how many people are we losing across the country? And and the young lifeguard in in uh California was a week and a half ago, the rescue he made. You know, yeah. Those waves were those waves were pounding him, and you know, commentary on social media is a little comedic. He did his job. Yes, he did do his job, but the conditions were adverse. I'm sure that he was exhausted. If you notice, he held on to that kid for dear life, ducking the the waves as they were getting pounded close to the kids. He never let go. He never let go. He never let go. And I also, I believe also, I think swimming wasn't permitted on that beach. So, you know, we gotta we gotta exercise some common sense here.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

And uh he had saved some other people prior to that on that same day.

SPEAKER_02 9:31

He went right back to yeah, he went right back to work after he made the save as well.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

So he was a busy and he was a busy uh busy boy. And if I understand correctly, I think he's going to the White House to meet the president.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

Yeah, yeah, he got invited and they said that he had uh experience in swimming because of water polo. I but I thought they did that in a pool. I didn't I didn't know water polo.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Yes, but let me tell no, water polo is obviously yes, it's in the pool. You are correct. It's basketball in the water. I mean, what you can't see in water polo is those legs turning under the surface, uh, under the surface of the water. Yeah. You're in phenomenal shape. And when when you go to take a shot in water polo, you try to make yourself as big, as big as you can. So you've got to kick those kick those legs to get your torso up out of the water to whip that ball. I'm a big fella. It's not easy. It's not easy to do, trust me. Isn't that really phenomenal shape?

SPEAKER_03 10:21

Yeah, but isn't that really cruel to the horses?

SPEAKER_02 10:24

You know, uh somehow the horses go along, they go along with the program. They go along with the program.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

Phenomenal shape, phenomenal shape of those equestrian animals.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

Absolutely. Well, it's just a very sad situation, and I was mentioning that there was um the emergency medical services uh director in North Carolina who got hooked on to the anchor as he was throwing it over. Um my gosh, and he drowned himself. Uh just a horrible thing.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

That is uh that is what a what a freak accident, and that is absolutely terrible. My gosh.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Just uh 60 years old Dale Griffin. Uh and that's really um it's it's not far from us. You know, I was just talking about Bufort or Beaufort. Uh that is the fire department up there that he worked for. Um but they said that um I I I don't know if someone witnessed it happening or did they say, hey, where is this guy? And eventually found him hooked onto this anchor.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

But oh my gosh, so tragic.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

Mm-hmm. Yeah. So tragic.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

A freak accident, my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

But you know, um these uh these situations with uh with our beaches, you know, like you said, uh look at those flags and just stand it. And and this is something else that we talk about. Um a lot of uh children playing in you know just the water uh like you know, ankle deep. They can get something. We've seen this happen. I mean, even if a parent is standing right there, these like waves come and just wash you away. Have you seen that happen on your watch?

SPEAKER_02 12:09

I haven't seen it in Colony Island, but you're you're uh you know, you're jogging my memory. So going back a long time ago, the summer of ninety five was a terrible summer for water activity. The Jersey Shore, there was a young father at Point Pleasant. He was watching his son in ankle deep water and as a a a little a little kid. He got sucked right out in front of his father.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

Uh that's why I go back to my and lifeguards were on duty. It just again, a free a freak thing that happened.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

But the the w the water is unf the water is unforgiving. You know, and uh you just have to hold you know, hold on to a kid. If listen, if you have to have the kid in your arms and just just dip in the water, you know, do do whatever you gotta do so that the whole family you left the house with four, yeah. You come back with four, or maybe five. Maybe you save someone else's kid and you scoop that short.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

Because the flip side is the flip catastrophic.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

Yeah, and um, you know, I mean, when you're a young parent, you learn all about how you just need inches of water to you for your child to drown in a bathtub or something like that. Right. Um, or a children's pool, you know, you just have to be super careful. That water gets in your lungs, it's hard. It's hard to um get it out and save people. Right.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

What Liza, what happens when the water gets in your lungs, salt water, you have pulmonary edema, it starts to pool in your lungs. And then so like sometimes what happens is if a swimmer is in distress and gets rescued but swallowed a little bit of water and they they leave the beach and they're conscious and they're breathing, they could have what's called a parking lot drowning, where they they drown in their own fluids.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 13:45

So precautionary never heard about it, precautionary, yep, precautionary medical services. If you know you were in distress and they'll they'll ask you, hey, did you, you know, do you think you did you swallow some water, or if it's obvious to them that the person's like hacking a little bit, they'll take them right to the hospital for an emergency intervention because that's that's a problem. So that's called a that's called a parking lot drowning. Um where you you drown from swallowing that water, but you drown on land from all the all the fluids pooling in your lungs, and you become an angel. So, you know, it's really serio it's a serious it's a serious thing.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

Even if you think that you've swallowed water and you you had maybe you kind of you know were rescued by someone. If you think you've swallowed the water or aspirated it even into your lungs, correctly wow.

SPEAKER_02 14:37

As a as a precaution, yes, you yes, you should, yes. You know, it's uh Okay. You know, it's con it's concerning. And and just to leave on this note, you guys are we can't believe we made world news here in New York City, you know, there was a a boat the size of a thimble with fourteen people on it by the Statue of Liberty, and it was an unlicensed uh boating operator. The boat was over capacity, so he whipped the U-turn by the Statue of Liberty. Nobody was wearing life jackets. You had a mother, twenty-seven, and I think the the baby was four or five months old. Oh my god. They they drowned. And that's boating safety, you know.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

I mean, um And they arrested by Captain, right?

SPEAKER_02 15:17

He might be facing federal charges. He's on fifty thousand dollars uh bail.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

But uh you know, Liz, it goes back to what we said, please everybody exercise common sense and the captain, the the operator, he's responsible. But every adult on that boat, you're on a boat the size of the of your recording studio. You got twelve or fourteen people in the recording studio. We're overweight here. You know, it wasn't like you had twelve smurfs on the boat, you had adults. And who the heck the baby had didn't have a shot, and it breaks my heart. Completely avoidable. Common sense has to be exercised. Absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Carl, cousin Carl, thank you so much uh for joining us and giving us your insight. I appreciate it. We learned something new today.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

Just be safe, everybody in South Carolina. Love you guys.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

All right, love you too. Take care, we'll see you soon.