Suffolk County Police Marine Bureau officers rescued a Copiague family from a boat that had run aground in the mouth of the Fire Island Inlet.
On August 22, a 30-year-old man, his 30-year-old wife, along with their two-year-old son, and the child’s 62-year-old grandfather were on a 25-foot Parker boat that ran aground due to low tide and became stranded in the mouth of the Fire Island Inlet on Saturday night. The child’s mother used her cell phone to call 911 at 11:22 p.m.
Officers Keith Miller and Robert King aboard Marine Juliet responded but were unable to get within a half-mile of the stranded boat. Therefore, Officers Rob Jenkins and James Matriciano transported Marine Hovercraft Tango to Oak Beach, where they deployed the vessel, reached the stranded boat, and started the safe removal of the family at 1:52 a.m.
The officers took the family to the New York State Boat Basin, where the two-year-old was transported to Good Samaritan University Hospital in West Islip for treatment of minor injuries. None of the other family members were injured.