NJ man who died canoeing in Raritan Bay off Keyport identified
KEYPORT - Police have identified an Irvington man who died Sunday after canoeing in Raritan Bay.
Despite a rescue attempt by a paddleboarder, a kayaker and a Keyport police officer, Carlos Melendez, 64, was found floating face down in the water and was pronounced dead shortly thereafter, police said.
Police went to Cedar Street Park beach just after 1:30 p.m. Sunday where they found a crowd of people, according to an incident report.
Two kayakers, Gabrielle Rooke and Joseph Pavlovsky, told police they had pulled Hugo Martinez from the water, gave him a life jacket and brought him ashore. Martinez had told Pavlovsky and Rooke, who called police, that he and his friend had been on a canoe together when it capsized and that his friend was still out in the water. Pavlovsky paddled about 1,000 feet offshore where he found the submerged canoe, police said.
Keyport officer Chris DeGroat, a member of the Monmouth County Dive Team, used Rooke's kayak to paddle out to Pavlovsky. A third person, Courtney Bodley-Orriss, went out on a paddleboard to help Pavlovsky and DeGroat find the missing man, police said.
"I was literally on the water calling out to God for help," Bodley-Orriss, a nurse from Keyport, said in a phone interview.
While with Pavlovsky, DeGroat heard a call from Bodley-Orriss who was about 200 feet away. She found Melendez floating face down, DeGroat said in the incident report.
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DeGroat pulled Melendez up by the shirt to check his pulse but found none. He tried to see if he could stand up in the water so he could push Melendez on board the kayak, but it was too deep and the kayak was too small to get him up to try CPR, DeGroat said.
DeGroat and Bodley-Orriss waited for the Keyport fireboat, which had just launched from the Keyport Boat Ramp, DeGroat said.
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When firefighters arrived, DeGroat helped them hoist Melendez onto the fireboat, where they attempted CPR on him.
Once ashore, Melendez was taken to Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, where he was pronounced dead at 2:43 p.m.
Bodley-Orriss said the man's death left people shaken, including her.
"I'm sorry I wasn't able to find him alive," she said. "But I'm glad I could give closure at least."
Ken Serrano covers breaking news, crime, local issues and investigations. Reach him at 732-643-4029 or at kserrano@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Irvington NJ man who died after canoeing in Raritan Bay identified
