As discussion continues about whether Lauderdale-by-the-Sea will pay for lifeguards and if the majority of residents even want them, elected officials have made it illegal to dig deep holes in the sand in an effort to prevent another tragedy after a 7-year-old girl died while she was buried alive in the sand earlier this year.
Sloan Mattingly, her 9-year-old brother and their parents were visiting Lauderdale-by-the-Sea from Indiana and arrived at the beach about 12:30 p.m. Feb. 20. The children were digging in the sand throughout the day with a plastic shovel and bucket, and when they were leaving the beach shortly after 3 p.m., Sloan and her brother, Maddox, “wanted to jump into the hole one last time,” according to an autopsy investigation report released Wednesday to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Sloan and Maddox ran and jumped into the 4-feet-deep hole, and the sand began to collapse in on them as Maddox was standing upright. Sloan was completely buried underneath him while Maddox was buried up to his chest.
Sloan was trapped underneath her brother in the sand for 30 minutes, the report said. She had no pulse by the time she was freed from the sand and was pronounced dead at a hospital. The Medical Examiner’s Office ruled her death an accident.
New ordinance
The commission recently passed an ordinance that prohibits people from digging a hole deeper than 18 inches in the sand and from leaving the beach without completely filling in any hole. The town has also enacted a beach safety campaign, called Sandcastles for Sloan, to warn people against digging holes deeper than knee-height of the shortest person in the group.
The ordinance created three separate violations: Taking, removing, mining or excavating sand from any dune or beach within the town; digging a hole or trench in the sand of a beach or dune deeper than 18 inches; and leaving any hole without completely filling it in.
Town officials are considering hiring another code enforcement officer who would be a “beach ambassador” responsible for enforcing all ordinances, including the new one, Mayor Edmund Malkoon said in an email to the Sun Sentinel.
The penalties for any violations are not clear yet.
“If the commission chooses to vote to have an extra code enforcement officer, then they will need to be trained on appropriate enforcement for beachgoers,” Malkoon wrote in the email. “Obviously, issuing a fine to someone who is transient on a beach is different than doing so on private property. I also imagine it would depend on whether the person is cooperative or not. Perhaps you educate and ask nicely first.”
At an April 30 meeting where the commission discussed the ordinance, Vice Mayor Randy Strauss questioned whether it was necessary to amend the town’s code, or if simply a beach rule prohibiting digging could be put in place. Commissioner Theo Poulopoulos said that without creating the ordinance, there would be no way to enforce it.
“At the end of the day these are words on a piece of paper that very, very few people are ever going to read, and all that really matters is whether or not there’s some type of enforcement of it,” Poulopoulos said at the meeting.
At the June 6 commission meeting, Malkoon said just days earlier there were people who knew about the accident that killed Sloan but were still digging trenches on the beach.
“A police officer went out there, but he didn’t have the jurisdiction because we didn’t have this rule in place, so it was like, ‘You guys shouldn’t do that,’ but he had no way of enforcing it. So this will give some teeth to BSO and others to enforce this rule on our beach,” Malkoon said at the meeting.
Lifeguards still in discussion
Town officials recently laid out three possible plans for lifeguards or beach patrol on its two-and-a-half miles of shore: An option with the Sheriff’s Office that would cost over $765,000 annually; lifeguards and ocean rescue that would cost over $1 million annually; and beach patrol by code officers that would cost no more than $260,000 annually but would not provide medical assistance or rescue.
Three people died at the beach in May and one man died after a possible drowning in June.
On May 3, a man “collapsed” at the edge of the water, and Broward Sheriff’s Office Lauderdale-by-the-Sea district deputies who were patrolling the beach nearby immediately responded, according to a report from the district’s commander Capt. William Wesolowski to Town Manager Linda Connors in early June.
He was taken to Holy Cross Health in Fort Lauderdale, where he died, according to the report. The man and his wife, who were visiting from New York, were participating in a supervised snorkeling dive.
On May 22, witnesses saw a man in the water who appeared to be having difficulty on a boogie board and then went facedown in the water, the report said. Bystanders pulled him from the water and started CPR. Pompano Beach Fire Rescue took him to Holy Cross Health, where he was pronounced dead.
Man drowns off Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, months after girl died in sand
On May 25, a 73-year-old resident of a nearby condo walked into the water carrying a snorkel and mask, had an medical emergency, collapsed on the shore and was unresponsive, the report said.
People started CPR immediately, and the condo staff attempted to use an automated external defibrillator to shock her. Deputies once they arrived continued CPR, but she was pronounced dead at the beach by Pompano Beach Fire Rescue, according to the report.
Most recently, a man died in mid-June after he was rescued from the ocean during a possible drowning.
Man dies after ‘possible drowning’ in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea; second death in less than month
At a May 28 commission meeting, 10 residents spoke during public comment in support of lifeguards, a few who were critical of what they feel has not been enough action since Sloan’s death.
Father Peter Zougros, of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Fort Lauderdale, told the commission he was leading the funeral the following day of one of the men who died on May 22, a 52-year-old father and husband whose family is “grieving terribly over this.”
“It’s now becoming to be a point that we really don’t feel that safe anymore, sending people here,” he said of his usual recommending tourists go to Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.
Resident Brian Paperny said he remembered when he was a child being warned by a man on the beach to not dig deep holes and the dangers of it.
“It’s been 90 days and I don’t know what action has been taken, so it just seems to me at this point with the most recent death that something needs to be done, and we’re beyond a ‘should we or should we not,’ it should be now what are we going to do and how’re we going to implement it?” Paperny said.
Robert Karley, a resident who was a member of the town’s former volunteer fire department, said at the meeting that when he would patrol the beach while volunteering, he’d see people buried up to their necks in holes in the sand, and it was a difficult job to drag them out and cover the holes.
“Something needs to be done, a little more efficient than what we’re doing now,” Karley said.
The town asked residents and businesses to complete a beach safety survey, which closed at the end of June. The survey results will be presented at the town’s commission meeting Tuesday, Malkoon told the Sun Sentinel.