Jerald Oliver, 60, was declared dead at 3:05 p.m. Dec. 2 at the Bradenton Beach Marina after employee Andy Tolar found the liveaboard boater floating in the water.
Tolar dropped his keys into the water and — when he went to retrieve them — saw Oliver’s body beneath a dock, according to a Bradenton Beach police report.
Tolar tried but failed to reach Oliver and called for help.
Two marina employees, Cory Stickler and Joshua Wilson, responded and retrieved Oliver. They brought him aboard a nearby vessel and began CPR.
BBPD Officer Matthew Lincoln arrived as Wilson was administering CPR and noted that Oliver had bled from his left temple and suffered abrasions on his lower legs.
Manatee County paramedic John Millard arrived and began assessing the man’s condition.
Millard “determined that he could not be saved,” and declared Oliver deceased.
Tolar, Stickler and Wilson told the BBPD that they recognized Oliver, who had lived aboard his sailboat at the marina for several years.
Richard Correa, who arrived at the marina after the incident, told Lincoln that he and Oliver had been drinking at the Drift In, 120 Bridge St., 45 minutes earlier.
Correa said Oliver left the bar with a bottle of alcohol to take to his boat.
The District 12 Medical Examiner’s Office transported the body for an autopsy and investigation into the cause of death.