By JOE KERNAN
Police had nothing but praise for the bystanders who took it upon themselves to rescue five people from a treacherous rip tide off Conimicut Point on Sunday afternoon. Major Joseph Tavares told reporters yesterday that the people who saw a group of swimmers in distress off shore and rose to the occasion were the difference between a pleasant day at the beach and tragic deaths by drowning.
"They made a world of difference," said Tavares. "It was a joint effort by a bunch of people who responded to a call for help."
The incident began earlier that day, when family and friends of 14-year-old Tiffany Martinez were celebrating the young girl's birthday at the beach. Tiffany's stepfather and his friend Joshua Padilla were fishing off the beach. Tiffany and her 9-year-old friend, Alexis Dias-Hennessy, and 13-year-old Ross Gould of Providence , waded out to a sandbar off shore to do some swimming. They were walking across the sandbar as the tide was coming in and all three were suddenly washed away by a large wave and swept into a rip tide, waiting on the other side of the sand bar.
"The water conditions were treacherous," reported Warwick police officer Daniel Maggiacomo, adding that there was an extreme current and a strong wind at the time. Maggiacomo was one of the officers who rushed to Conimicut Point when they heard the 911 dispatch around 4:15 p.m. He said it was reported that the kids had been dragged out approximately "100 to 150 feet off the coastline into the middle of the ocean."
When two men who were fishing heard the cries for help, they jumped into the water in an attempt to pull the children out and were sucked into the current themselves. Now there were five people in distress off shore.
Ray and Sherry Hawkins were the first to hear the shouts for help. They were trying to get their boat going when they saw the victims. There was no way they could get to them.
"They were in their boat and the engine was stalled and they couldn't get it started," said Karen Flynn, 62, of Dundas Avenue who watched the dramatic scene from the shore.
It was her daughter, Sherry, and her daughter's husband Ray in the stalled boat.
"At first I thought it was their kids in the water and my heart was pounding in my chest, but then I found out that the kids were left at someone else's house and they were safe."
But Ray Hawkins refused to leave the drowning people on their own in deep water. Ray jumped off his boat, went to the beach and dragged a kayak down to the water. Laura Aptt, 30, of West Shore Road , and Karen's son Robert, 34, joined Ray on the kayak and they went after the drowning people. They reached the three children and used the kayak to float them to shore.
Michael Laurendeau, 38, of East Providence was out on his catamaran with two friends from Providence , Donald Butler, and George Ladeira. They pulled the two fishermen from the water and got them safely to shore.
"By that time, they knew the names of the [endangered] children and Robert had Tiffany on the kayak and was yelling at her to wake up while he was giving her CPR," said Karen Flynn. "He was pounding on her chest and yelling, 'Wake up! Wake up!' until they got to the beach and Rescue took over."
Dias-Hennessy was shivering uncontrollably on the shore and Rescue immediately started treating her. The water is still much colder than the air at this time of the year and she was obviously suffering from hypothermia on the verge of going into shock. Alexis and Tiffany were rushed to Hasbro Children's Hospital. They were the only people who required the treatment of a trauma unit. The rest of the victims were up and about and, after minor attention from Rescue, they were in good condition. Alexis went home with her mother later.
The Warwick Rescue people who gave Tiffany CPR all the way to the hospital told Officer William DiGiulio they did get her breathing on her own and got a pulse just before they arrived at the hospital but she was still in critical condition as of yesterday.
Tavares said there is a thin line between a nice day at the beach and a tragedy, and thanks to the brave citizens who saved the drowning party, a tragic situation could have been a lot sadder if not for them.
"Sometimes it is the worst of situations that brings the best out of people," said Tavares.