LAUDERDALE-BY-THE-SEA, FLA. (WSVN) - Lauderdale-by-the-Sea officials gathered for the first time after a young girl lost her life in a tragedy on the beach. Officials paid tribute to the victim while also trying to figure out if something can be done to prevent this from happening again.
During the meeting, commissioners heard from Broward Sheriff’s Office Capt. William Wesolowski, who gave a first hand account of what he saw when he first arrived on the beach last week.
“Maddox, the young boy, was about up to his waist, a little bit higher than his waist, in the sand hysterically crying,” said Wesolowski. “One of the first questions I asked was ‘Where is your sister?’ and he, Maddox, pointed straight down as in between his legs. Now, there was no indication, physically, that we could see a second person.”
Wesolowski said this was an active and ongoing investigation.
Following the details of the incident, commissioners spoke about the topic of adding lifeguards to their beaches, something they have not had in years.
Residents appeared at the meeting to give their opinions on what should be done.
“We do not want to see another event like this never again, and poor, the little girl, Sloan is no longer with us and there’s a reason and possibly this is a reason as to bring to fruition what we need. We need lifeguards,” said one man.
“We don’t need knee-jerk reactions to a tragedy. We need common sense, not virtue signaling. I don’t want to live in or fund a nanny state,” said another resident.
“I’m not asking for some type of big brother government, we’re talking about lifeguards,” said Commissioner Theo Poulopoulos.
Officials said lifeguards could cost anywhere between $200,000 to $400,000 a year.
The meeting comes days after an avalanche of beach sand buried Sloan Mattingly, from Indiana, as cell phone camera shows dozens of beach goers worked hard to free her.
“There’s a little girl buried and they have not gotten to her yet,” said a caller to 911.
She passed away at the hospital.
Sloan’s brother, Maddox, who was also in the sand hole with her at some point, made it out OK.
“His head was above the sand. I guess his sister was beside him, and she was down further,” said witness David Davies. “They tried to dig her out, but the more they dug, the more the sand collapsed.”
At the Lauderdale-by-the-Sea beach where Sloan died, signs are posted alerting beachgoers that it has no lifeguards and to swim at their own risk. Lifesavers are on posts scattered all across the sand.
Tom Gill, vice president of the United States Lifesaving Association, a national nonprofit representing lifeguards and other rescuers, said a lifeguard would’ve put a stop to anyone digging holes.
“[I’m] heartbroken for this family, and even more heartbroken knowing if we’d have lifeguards there, could they have prevented this tragedy? I would say 100% yes,” said Gill.
On Friday, Mayor Chris Vincent honored the young girl at a music event.
“Before we begin, I’d like to lead us all in a moment of silence in the memory of 7-year-old Sloan Mattingly,” Vincent said.
When asked at the event about the issue of lifeguards, he said commissioners would take a look at it.
“We’ve had many conversations about that in the past. This is nothing new. We’re not the only beaches that currently don’t have lifeguards, but this is something that we will be looking at it,” said Vincent. “We’re going to have this discussion. I’m going to listen to the experts, as well as my commission, and town staff and we’ll make that decision based on the information we get.”
Officials said they have studied surveillance video on the beach as they try to figure out what happened.
The meeting wrapped up on Tuesday evening without making a final decision on lifeguards because they still have more information that they need to gather.
“Taxpayers are going to make that decision, in my opinion, moving forward. They need to reach out and need to give us the input on that,” said Vincent.
Poulopoulos said he will fight for the change.
“I’ll be sitting right there for the next two years. I’ll be pushing it,” said Poulopoulos.
The commissioners also read a letter from Sloan’s family on Tuesday that said she would not want people to be sad because she loved this beach very much.
“She would never want your beaches to be as sad as I saw them in recent days. The beach was one of her favorite places to go. If there was a way to use this tragedy to ensure that people build sandcastles and not dig deep holes,” read a note from Sloan’s family.
The commission has asked their staff to put together all the information they will need to make a decision. They are asking for that within the next 30 days.
Commissioners will also consider a permanent memorial to Sloan at a later meeting.
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