Coast Guard Assist Boy Having Seizure, While Transporting Boater to Point P.D.

Coast Guard Station Manasquan Inlet members were driving a boater that they said was boating while intoxicated when they stopped to assist  a child who appeared to be having a seizure. 

The station’s boarding team conducted a routine safety inspection aboard a 26-foot pleasure craft in the Manasquan River around 4:30 p.m. Saturday.  In addition to allegedly not having enough life jackets on the boat, six of the seven people aboard appeared to be intoxicated, according to the Coast Guard.

The boat’s operator blew a .18 reading on a breathalyzer test, and the voyage was terminated. The one sober passenger aboard the boat drove it to a nearby marina, Coast Guard officials said.

Boarding team members transferred the operator to the Point Pleasant Police Department, where he was placed under arrest. The man's identification was not immediately available.

“Drinking while on the water is extremely dangerous,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Daniel Wishnoff, a Station Manasquan Inlet crew member. “It is illegal in every state to operate a boat while under the influence of alcohol. Alcohol is dangerous for everyone aboard, including passengers. If someone falls overboard, the inner ear disturbance caused by alcohol can make it impossible for a person suddenly immersed in water to distinguish up from down.”

While driving to the police department, two Coast Guardsmen noticed a crowd on a street corner surrounding a boy who appeared to be about 5 years old lying on the side of the road in Point Pleasant Beach. His mother said she believed he suffered a seizure.

Wishnoff secured the scene while Petty Officer 3rd Class John Baldauf, the Coast Guard station’s lead emergency medical technician, assisted the boy’s mother in getting the child into the recovery position to keep his airway open and prevent him from chocking on his saliva.

Baldauf evaluated the child by taking his pulse and monitoring his rapid breathing until local police and emergency medical technicians arrived. The boy was taken to the hospital.