It must have been his lucky hat.
But first responders from five organizations and Good Samaritans who converged on Anna Maria Sound Aug. 10 to help a man who lept from the Anna Maria Island Bridge to recover his hat from the water failed to save him.
Tragically, Andy Lewis Milton Sr., 51, succumbed to the current and drowned.
Milton was bicycling eastbound across the Anna Maria Island Bridge from Holmes Beach to Perico Island when his hat blew from his head into the water below. Reports from law enforcement state that he stopped and chained his bike to the bridge railing and jumped into the bay in an attempt to retrieve the hat.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Officer Joel Buckson was driving over the bridge at the time of the incident and observed as Milton managed to cling to a red channel marker on the north side of the bridge.
“I stripped my gear and tried to swim out to him,” Buckson said, “but by the time I got out there, he was already underwater.”
Manatee County EMS, U.S. Coast Guard, West Manatee Fire Rescue and Manatee County Marine Rescue arrived on-scene at Kingfish Boat Ramp to assist in the search. Passing boaters also joined the search, standing on their tower platforms for a better view into the water.
FWC Lt. Louis Hinds, who assisted in the recovery effort, said Milton did not appear to have been a good swimmer and got caught in the current.
Buckson spotted Milton near a channel marker and pulled him out of the water with the help of other first responders.
Milton was rushed to a waiting ambulance and paramedics administered CPR, but he was pronounced dead at Blake Medical Center in Bradenton.
MSCO public information director Dave Bristow said Milton is believed to have been homeless.