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Body Of Brooklyn Teen Found On Riis Park Beach

Disappeared There Last Sunday


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Emergency personnel stand by the body of 18-year-old drowning victim Trevon Gidding, who disappeared in the Riis Park surf last Sunday and was found there Thursday morning. For more photographs of the emergency response to his drowning, see Page 38. Photo by Doug Macleod

Emergency personnel stand by the body of 18-year-old drowning victim Trevon Gidding, who disappeared in the Riis Park surf last Sunday and was found there Thursday morning. For more photographs of the emergency response to his drowning, see Page 38. Photo by Doug Macleod


The body of a Brooklyn teen who was lost in the surf at Riis Park on Sunday, July 2, was found by a jogger on the same stretch of beach early on Thursday morning, police said.

Trevon Gidding, of Avenue B in Brooklyn came to the National Park Service-run beach on Sunday with his family, including his mother, his older cousin and younger brothers and sisters, according to police sources.

Gidding’s 25-year-old cousin, Nzinga Bandele told police that she was in the waist-high water with Gidding and that she heard the lifeguard’s whistle. She turned away from him for a minute to see what was going on. When she turned back, she said, Gidding was gone.

National Park Service lifeguard Bob Sorenson told police that he saw the youth struggling with a large wave. He went into the water after Gidding, but he was nowhere to be found.

“We were in the water in less than a minute [after he disappeared,],” Sorenson said.

According to published reports, Gidding’s aunt, Sharon Clarke, Gidding did not know how to swim.

The disappearance of the 5-foot, 4- inch teen sparked a massive response by lifeguards, police and fire department divers and boats from the NYPD, FDNY, Coast Guard and U.S. Park Police.



Crowds line the beach at Riis Park on Sunday as a massive search for Trevon Gidding, a missing swimmer, moves into high gear. The teen's body was found on the beach on Thursday morning. Photo by Howard Schwach

Crowds line the beach at Riis Park on Sunday as a massive search for Trevon Gidding, a missing swimmer, moves into high gear. The teen’s body was found on the beach on Thursday morning. Photo by Howard Schwach

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