Fla. Crews Rescue Paralyzed Man Stranded in Ocean

Sept. 13--A 33-year-old man paralyzed from the waist down drifted in the ocean for hours Friday before lifeguards in Hallandale Beach spotted him and rescued him on a Jet Ski, officials said.

"I was scared," said Joel Perez, who floated a few miles upstream off Sunny Isles Beach in Miami-Dade County where he got into the water.

"I thought I was going to die," Perez said Friday night. "I was screaming so much and people kept walking and didn't hear me."

Beach patrol lifeguards in Hallandale Beach spotted him about 150 to 200 yards from land, said Lori Williams, spokeswoman for Hallandale Beach Fire Rescue.

The lifeguards were alerted by a resident from a nearby apartment building who heard someone screaming in the ocean and called 911, according to Robert Shields, a Hallandale Beach Fire Rescue paramedic.

The man had no flotation device, but managed to tread water. He told rescuers that he practices water therapy for his paralysis, Williams said.

Upon spotting him, rescuers got on a Jet Ski and darted his way. "He was awake and alert when they got to him," Williams said.

On Friday night, Perez, who was sunburned and shaking, munched on pizza and waited to be picked up by his sister at the beachside fire station.

Officials at Hallandale Beach Fire Rescue reached out to their counterparts in Sunny Isles Beach who found his abandoned wheelchair and backpack on the beach, said Shields, who kept Perez company while he waited to be picked up.

"I need a lot of rest since this all happened," Perez said, lying on a stretcher bundled in blankets. "I'm in terrible pain."

Perez, who said he is unemployed, lives alone in an apartment near downtown Miami. He said he wanted to go swimming at Sunny Isles Beach because it is less crowded than Miami Beach.

But as storms rolled in and beachgoers took cover, Perez found himself alone on the beach, he said. The current suddenly whisked him away from shore.

"The current pulled him out farther since he can only use his arms," Shields said. "He was very lucky that somebody did actually spot him."

The worst part of being stuck in the water were the multiple stings he endured from what firefighter/paramedics believe to have been jellyfish, Perez said.

"I'm never going to the beach again -- never in my life," he said.

emiller@tribune.com, 954-356-4544 or Twitter @EmilyBethMiller

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