This Beach Party Is To Die For

This Beach Party Is To Die For

Tyler Beam, Paw Staff

The family of 54-year old father George Bradley Smith who drowned, sued the North Wildwood Beach last week for not saving the man. They are hoping to see the beach deemed too dangerous and close it down.

 

In 2012, the father was walking in ankle deep water when his 7-year old, the two had been swept into the ocean. The daughter had survived while the father’s body was found two miles away from where they were.

After the press conference, Sandra Smith said she was surprised to learn many other people had been swept into the water in that area, including the 2009 drowning of 28-year-old Jamilah Watkins and 15-year-old Shayne Hart.

Dominique McNeil, now 20, of Cape May Court House, was with Watkins and Hart that day and survived the incident. She attended the press conference Tuesday with Hart’s mother, Tasha. McNeil said Watkins and Hart, who was in town visiting family, were walking along the beach when they were pulled into the water, similar to what happened to Smith’s family.

Smith said she hasn’t been back to North Wildwood since her husband’s body was recovered three days after he drowned. She said she fears every summer hearing about a drowning there. In 2015, after a teen from Pennsylvania drowned in the inlet, Smith renewed her call for the beach to be closed.