A Georgia woman died after experiencing difficulty boarding a personal watercraft at the Coquina south boat ramp in Bradenton Beach.
Marsha A. Mincey, 51, was with family members from Georgia at about 2 p.m. July 1 when she stepped off a dock, went under water and started to panic, according to police reports.
When BBPD officers arrived at 2:15 p.m., Manatee County Marine Rescue lifeguards and medics were trying to revive the woman near the ramp. EMS transported Mincey to Blake Medical Center in Bradenton.
Before first responders arrived, her family and others attempted to pull Mincey to the dock at the boat ramp on Sarasota Bay at the city’s south end.
Mincey was wearing a safety vest, according to the police reports.
“I’m not 100 percent sure it was a drowning,” said Bradenton Beach Detective Sgt. Lenard Diaz, adding it may have been medical-related.
The death at Coquina Bayside Park came on the first day of a busy weekend that drew thousands of visitors to celebrate Independence Day at the beach.
Mincey’s is the third water-related death on the beaches since June 9.
Swimmers pulled a 25-year-old Lakeland man, Joseph Teston, from the Gulf of Mexico near Spring Avenue in Anna Maria on June 8. He died a day later.
Michael Angelo Rosario Alvarez, 29, of Haines City, died June 25 after he went missing in the Gulf near 47th Street in Holmes Beach. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crew spotted Alvarez 150 feet from the shore after a two-hour search and rescuers brought his body to awaiting medics.
The cause of death in each case is pending a medical examiner’s ruling.
