Fifth Person Steps On Hypodermic Needle On A City Beach - Boy-9

The needle Eileen McManus said her son, Gerard, stepped on at a beach in the Rockaways. The lifeguard told the mother that was the third incident that day. (Photo: Philip McManus via Metro NY)

Yesterday A Walk in the Park reported that four people had been stuck by hypodermic needles on NYC beaches in three weeks.

Queens

Today Metro ran a story about four people being stuck by hypodermic needles on local beaches in the past three weeks. And this morning the paper was contacted by a woman who said her son was stabbed by a needle this week as well, according to Metro NY.

Little Gerard McManus was walking in the sand on Tuesday, July 24 after enjoying an afternoon at 104th Street beach in the Rockaways. That's when he was jabbed in the foot by a syringe embedded in the sand.

“I just stepped on a needle,” the nine-year-old told his mother, Eileen McManus. Though there wasn’t any blood, his foot had been punctured by the sandy needle and needed immediate attention, Eileen told Metro today.

“I took him to the lifeguard who bandaged his foot so we could take him to the hospital,” said McManus, 52, adding that the lifeguard told her it had been the third needle stabbing that day.

Because the nearest hospital was closed McManus drove her terrified son to South Nassau Hospital, a forty-minute drive away.

There, Gerard was given an X-ray and referred to an infectious disease specialist for blood testing.

“They’re not worried about HIV so much, but we do have to worry about hepatitis all because we weren’t even aware that this was a problem,” McManus said.

Gerard is going to be on antibiotics for the next 10 days, and will need to return for follow-up tests in one month, and again in three months.

“Nobody in Rockaway knew this was happening. How come we weren’t advised of this?,” said McManus, a homemaker who lives across the street from the beach. “We’re out here every day playing in the sand, sliding around, and it scares me.”

“[The parks department] is complaining about budget cuts but I see guys riding around checking the beaches on a jeep. They should be out of the jeep, really checking the sand,” said McManus.

While the mother of three said she won’t be discouraged from returning to the beach, McManus told Metro that after hearing about all the other incidents she will start checking the sand before she lets her kids play in it.

“I thought my son was an isolated incident,” said McManus. “Obviously not.”

Read/View More:

Fifth person reports stepping on needle on New York City beaches

Metro NY - July 26, 2012 - By Daniella Bernal

Fourth Person Stuck By Hypodermic Needle On NYC Beaches In Three Weeks

A Walk In The Park -July 25, 2012 - By Geoffrey Croft

Fourth Person Stuck By Hypodermic Needle On NYC Beaches In Three Weeks

By Geoffrey Croft

For the fourth time in three weeks, someone has been pricked by a hypodermic needle on a city beach, A Walk In the Park has learned, three of the incidents have occured in Staten Island.

The latest victim was a female lifeguard who was stuck yesterday while on duty at Rockaway Beach. She stepped on a needle at 139th Street around 4:00 pm.

On July 16, a 63-year-old woman stepped on a hypodermic needle on Cedar Grove Beach and received a laceration to her foot. EMS transported the victim just before 1:00pm to Staten Island University Hospital North.

On Saturday, July 14, a 37-year-old was stabbed in his hand with a hypodermic needle while on the sand at South Beach - Father Capodanno Boulevard & Sand Lane just before 7:30pm. EMS transported him to Staten Island University Hospital North.

On July 4, a 40-year-old male was also stuck by a needle at South Beach. The incident occurred just before 9:00pm. He was transported by EMS to Staten Island University Hospital North.

"It's a bay, we're not on an ocean, " a parks employee who requested anonymity said speaking about the occurrences on Staten Island.

"This happens all the time. People dump stuff and it washes up here. You have to be careful. The public should be warned."

A few years ago after a spat of needle incidents a Parks Department press representative said, "this is a very unusual occurrence."

Read More:

Pol makes point about syringes

Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito outraged by beach needles

New York Daily News - July 27, 2012 - By Tina Moore

4 NYC Beachgoers Stuck by Needles in Sand

The Parks Department says it conducts daily beach cleanings,

but strict budgets only allow for so much sand maintenance

WNBC News - July 27, 2012 - By Brynn Gingras

Four people injured from needles in sand of NYC beaches

ASSOCIATED PRESS - July 26, 2012

Three people stuck by hypodermic needles on Staten Island beaches

Staten Island Advance - July 25, 2012 - By Frank Donnelly

4 People Pricked By Hypodermic Needles On City Beaches This Month

gothamist - July 25, 2012 - By John Del Signore

Fourth person to step on hypodermic needle at New York beaches in three weeks

Metro NY - July 25, 2012 - Daniela Bernal

McCarren Pool Lifeguard Speaks Out

"We train for rescuing people from drowning or breaking their necks — we don’t train for being jumped by a group of teenagers, or how to defend ourselves in an attack." - Lifeguard

(Photo: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates)

Brooklyn

When the McCarren Park Pool in Williamsburg reopened last month after 28 years of dormancy, it was hailed as a civic achievement and summer oasis for Brooklynites. But the city’s largest public pool has been plagued by violent brawls that pit teens against lifeguards and even forced the NYPD to shut it down on June 29. Lifeguards are forbidden to talk to the media, but one spoke to the The Post’s Annie Karni about life in the aquatic war zone.

Every morning when I wake up, I pray for rain.

Because if it’s sunny and 90 degrees at 11 a.m., when my shift starts, there will be 1,500 people lined up around the block to get in and just 30 lifeguards to watch over them. And a lot of them are coming in drunk and high.

Every day, at least three people get kicked out of the pool. And that’s when there’s not an all-out brawl.

The first major fight happened on our second day of work, and we had to shut the pool after people got arrested. Three kids were doing flips in the pool, and we were trying to get them to stop. One of my fellow lifeguards was standing on the edge of the deck.

I turned around and saw one of the kids push him into the pool and start fighting him. I jumped into the pool and tried pulling the kids off and they started jumping on me. It was really intense. It turned into a brawl with three lifeguards in the water fighting off about 15 high-school kids.

We train for rescuing people from drowning or breaking their necks — we don’t train for being jumped by a group of teenagers, or how to defend ourselves in an attack. I was running on pure adrenaline.

Our supervisor told us after that incident that if we were scared to work at McCarren, we could get moved. But not a single one of us signed papers to get transferred. The 30 of us are like a family. We all work six days a week and basically live here at the pool together all summer and share this tiny back room during breaks.

A lot of us are kind of short, and we have to back each other up. They hired all rookie lifeguards for McCarren, and most of the lifeguards are high-school students, and six of them are girls. But we all wanted to stick it out together.

On hot days, I can have my eyes on more than 75 people at once. I sit in a tall chair under a big umbrella wearing bright orange shorts, looking out over a 37,950-square-foot pool, alert all the time. The afternoons are the hardest because teenagers come in to act stupid and are looking for a fight, and I have to keep my eyes on people who aren’t in the water.

After the lunch break, a lot of people come in who look like they don’t work. I don’t think any of the roughhousing is gang-related. It’s just teenagers acting stupid, trying to be cool in front of people.

If I blow my whistle, people just give me the finger and ask why they can’t do what they’re doing. Sometimes they won’t stop until there are five of us on them, blowing our whistles and telling them to stop.

The other day, I was standing a couple feet from a cop who told this kid to get out of the water after he wouldn’t listen to the lifeguards.

“I’m not scared of no cop,” the kid said to him, and stood on the edge of the pool deck. The cop gave him a shove to get him to move, and the kid pushed him back then punched the cop in the face. That’s when we got more cops. On a typical day, there are about 40 cops around the pool.

It makes me feel safer because, in the end, we’re just people with whistles. Nobody has to listen to us.

We get paid $13.55 an hour, plus overtime. So far, I’m sticking it out, and it’s not bad pay, but it’s a hard job. There’s something going on every day, and it’s not just violence.

One of the lifeguards called me over while I was watching the baby pool the other day. “There’s poop in the pool,” he said. “It’s scattered everywhere.” I saw one kid step on a piece. I tried to tell the parents to get out, but no one listened to me. I had to yell at them that there was feces in the pool.

We cleared out the pool and made everyone stand on the sides. The rule is five minutes for poop and 25 minutes for throw-up. Luckily, there were two new lifeguards, so we made them clean it up.

The deep end: Confessions of a McCarren lifeguard ‘We train to rescue,

not to get jumped by teens’

New York Post - July 15, 2012 - By Annie Karni

McCarren Park Pool Security And Park Budget Concerns

A Walk In The Park - July 5, 2012

"John Doe" Has Heart Attack Swimming At Orchard Beach Over 4th Of July

Bronx

NYPD investigators are seeking the public’s help in identifying a man who died of a heart attack while swimming at Orchard Beach on the Fourth of July.

The man, thought to be in his 50s, was swimming at 1:55 p.m. Wednesday when he went into cardiac arrest, officials said.

Lifeguards performed CPR, but he was pronounced dead at Jacobi Hospital at 2:35 p.m.

Cops, park-enforcement officers and lifeguards combed the beach after closing hours but reported finding no hint of the man’s identity.

Read More:

NYPD Daily Blotter

New York Post - July 7, 2012 - By Kirstan Conley, Rebecca Harshbarger and Amelia Harris

Man Arrested After Pushing Lifeguard & Resisting Arrest

Jose Del Rosario, 22, allegedly shoved a lifeguard at John Jay Park's pool on July 4th.

(Photo: Irene Plagianos/DNAinfo)

Manhattan

A 22-year-old man was arrested after pushing a lifeguard and other pool users and scuffling with police, A Walk In the Park has learned.

Jose Del Rosario from the Bronx was pushing and harassing people in John Jay Park Pool on E. 77th Street in Manhattan last night.

A lifeguard observed Del Rosario pushing people into the pool and approached him and asked him to stop. He then pushed the lifeguard. NYPD saw the incident and approach the man and asked him to leave. He refused and became violent and resisted arrest according to the police.

He was charge with Obstruction of Governmental Administration, Criminal Trespass, Harassment and Disorderly Conduct.

The incident occurred at 6:30 pm shortly before the pool closed.

- Geoffrey Croft

Read More:

Man Arrested After Allegedly Shoving Lifeguard at John Jay Pool

DNAinfo - July 6, 2012 - By Amy Zimmer, Irene Plagianos

Security At McCarren Pool Dramatically Increased After Latest Incident

“Well, what do you want me to say. O.K., we’ll put a cop next to every lifeguard in the city. Come on, think about it! - Mayor Bloomberg - July 2.

A Brooklyn North Task Force officer keeps a watchful eye on pool activities yesterday evening. (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on image to enlarge.

Brooklyn

By Geoffrey Croft

Apparently Mayor Bloomberg did "think about it" but only after two New York City Police officers were injured at the pool a few hours after his remarks and after facing intense media coverage.

On Tuesday, as more than ten media outlets converged on McCarren Park Pool a phalanx of police officers descended throughout the day.

All Hands On Deck. What A Difference A Day Makes. The city dramatically increased the number of police officers assigned to McCarren Park Pool yesterday going from 2 to 20 a day after Monday's incident where two officers were hurt. More security has been added today as the Parks Department was forced to bring in additional PEP including supervisors, leaving no dedicated officers available to patrol more than four thousand park acres in Brooklyn.

Seven NYPD police including a plain clothes officer on the pool deck yesterday evening. The locker behind them to the left was where a woman had her purse stolen on Monday afternoon with her son.

The two regular officers assigned to the pool from the 94 Pct. were joined by an additional five from Brooklyn North Task Force for the morning section. That number ballooned to 20 officers for the violence-prone afternoon session as officers were pulled from numerous precincts.

"City Hall is pretty embarrassed by all the press out here," an officer said at the scene. "Not sure how long we're going to be out here. We're stretched pretty thin ourselves."

Meanwhile the Parks Department's press office was denying that more security had even been added, while also desperately trying to downplay the incidents.

"We always have a few incidents and we always handle them," said Park spokesperson Vickie Karp, responding "angrily" to criticism that there is not enough security.

"Two cops going to the hospital, lifeguards assaulted with no arrests, that's called handling it," a PEP officer said in response. "We have two officers and NYPD two for 1500 people and parks is advertising that. They're proud of that, and at a site that has a history."

"The pool has been open for what five days," said another officer. "This is ridiculous. We need help. I can't wait for these people (current park officials) to go."

The press office also spent the day denying media access to the pool deck despite repeated requests.

"They only want us to cover only happy things," quipped one broadcaster referring to the opening of the pool last Thursday which the media was given access to the entire facility.

"Isn't this a public pool," asked a photographer from a large daily paper, who also wondered if their legal department should get involved.

The dramatic increase of police was not the only drama of the day - two lockers were broken into bringing the two-day total to seven. One person had his wallet stolen and a second some clothes. Another patron his brand new white I-Phone 4G stolen when he put it down for "five minutes," while he showered.

Willamsburg resident Joseph Delaney reports getting his white I-Phone stolen on Tuesday to officers. (Photo: Kathleen Horan/WNYC)

A few kids were removed from the pool and few more were denied entry. One threatened a PEP Sgt. after he had been arguing with NYPD officers because he and his friends were not allowed in.

A male argues with an officer in front of the pool after he was denied access. "I'm going to ask you one more time to move away from the entrance before you get locked up," the officer said.

“I’m gonna come back and smoke your ass,” the teenager ranted to a PEP Sgt. a minute later. “If not me, someone else is!”

"The reason it closed years ago was because of fights and now we're like right back where we started, ” said elementary teacher Lisa Kasimo, who works and lives near the park.

Beginning today an additional eight Park Enforcement (PEP) officers including supervisors are being detailed to the pool. The personnel being assigned include officers from the PEP academy. This leaves the entire borough without a single dedicated PEP officer to patrol Brooklyn's more than four thousand acres of parkland.

"We have nobody in the borough, its a joke," said another officer. "We have no coverage. We can't respond to calls. It's open season out there."

According to Parks Commissioner Adrain Benepe PEP have lost 42% of their work force since 2008.

Meanwhile swarms of illegal venders selling everything from water to ices to and hot dogs were doing brisk business throughout the day near the entrance and in the park. Some venders worked the long lines that wrapped around to Bayard Avenue. Multiple venders sold toys in the adjacent playground. Two Polish girls in short, shorts passed out Red Bull samples to people waiting on the line.

One enterprising woman sold locks a few feet from the entrance to the pool. Locks are required for entry into the pool and have become a big issue as many people are showing up without them while others are bringing really cheap ones that can easily be broken into.

Checking Locks. A PEP Sgt. checks a flimsy lock of a pool patron. There have been multiple locker brake-ins at McCarren Park Pool.

One officer demonstrated how easy it was to pick them.

"Some people come to enjoy the pool, while others come because it's an opportunity to steal," an officer explained. "

According to police sources both officers involved in Monday's altercation are out on sick leave.

One of three men arrested Monday for allegedly punching a cop in the face, Rodoldo Torres, 20, was arraigned early yesterday in night court on two counts of assault. Torres, who was still wearing his black and white swim trunks and a tank top, was released without bail, according to the Post.

At a press conference on Monday a few hours before the violent incident where two NYPD officers were injured, Bloomberg became nasty when a reporter asked him about Friday's violence, an incident he apparently knew nothing about.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York City became confused, and then angered, when asked at an outdoor news conference about a brawl that broke out at a public pool in Brooklyn on Friday, according to the New York Times.

“I had no idea there was an incident. What was the incident? Did someone go swimming?” the mayor asked about the fight, which shut down McCarren Pool and was widely reported in the New York media.

The reporter explained what had happened: Lifeguards had been attacked by rowdy teenagers at the pool, which had been closed for 28 years before it was reopened by the mayor in a public ceremony on Thursday.

“Well, what do you want me to say?” Mr. Bloomberg snapped.

The mayor, who had rolled up the sleeves of his pink oxford shirt, heaped on a dollop of sarcasm — “O.K., we’ll put a cop next to every lifeguard in the city” — before dismissing the question entirely.

“Come on, think about it!” he angrily urged the reporter.

Afterwards, mayoral spokesman, Stu Loeser, attempted to contain the damage and downplayed the attack on the lifeguards.

He said later that Mr. Bloomberg had simply not been briefed on the clash.

“There are scuffles in city schools every single day,” Mr. Loeser wrote in an e-mail. “The mayor doesn’t get a briefing on every scuffle in every school or pool — and certainly not ones where there are zero arrests and medical attention is refused.”

News trucks, police vehicles and officers lined Lorimer Avenue outside the pool.

Read/View More:

McCarren Park Pool plagued by violence since reopening

Fox 5 News - July 4, 2012 - By Lidia Ujkaj

Big Problems At City’s Newly-Renovated McCarren Park Pool

WCBS News - July 3, 2012 - By Don Dahler

Patience Wearing Thin Following Several Incidents At McCarren Park Pool

WCBS - July 3, 2012 - By Kathryn Brown

Nabe cries: dirty Pool! Violence mars splashy B’klyn opening

New York Post - July 4, 2012 - By Rich Calder and Don Kaplan

McCarren Pool Beefs Up Security After Violence and Thefts

DNAinfo - July 4, 2012 - By Mathew Katz

Violence plagues newly renovated McCarren Park pool

WABC - July 03, 2012 - By Michelle Charlesworth

McCarren Pool Incidents Raise Question Of Pool Security

NY1 - July 3, 2012 - By Polly Kreisman

McCarren Grand-reopening Marred By Fights, Public Urination and Theft

Pix 11 - July 3, 2012 - By Kirstin Cole

Swimmers Suggest Ways to Restore Order at McCarren Pool

WNYC - July 3, 2012 - By Kathleen Horan

Pool Problems

1010 WINS - July 3, 2012 - By Carol D’Auria

Security Heightened at McCarren Pool

WNBC - July 3, 2012 - By Tracie Strahan

Cops assaulted at McCarran Park Pool

WNBC - July 3, 2012 - By Tracie Strahan

McCarren Pool Violence

My Fox - July 3, 2012 - Joanne Pileggi

Safety Concerns Mount After Violence, Thefts at McCarren Pool

DNAinfo - July 3, 2012 - By Jill Colvin, Jesse Lent

Arrests Made At McCarren Park Pool

Good Day New York - Fox - July 3, 2012 - By Steve Lacy

McCarren Park Pool Fighting Leads To Cop Getting Punched

Huffington Post - July 3, 2012

McCarren Park Pool Had a Few Robberies, Too

New York Magazine - By Joe Coscarelli

In Addition To Beatings, People Also Getting Robbed At McCarren

Gothamist - July 3, 2012 - By John Del Signore

Woman's Purse Stolen At McCarren Park Pool

A Walk In The Park - July 3, 2012 - By Geoffrey Croft

Cop Sent To Hospital In McCarren Pool Melee - 3 Arrested

A Walk In The Park - July 2, 2012 - By Geoffrey Croft

Day After Lifeguard Attack, McCarren Park Pool Is Filled To Capacity As Security Increases

A Walk In The Park - July 1, 2012 - By Geoffrey Croft

Security Questioned At $ 50 Mil. McCarren Pool As Lifeguards Are

Attacked One Day After Opening

A Walk In The Park - June 30, 2012 - By Geoffrey Croft

Day After Lifeguard Attack, McCarren Park Pool Is Filled To Capacity As Security Increases

Crowds waited to get into the newly opened McCarren Park Pool on Saturday, June 30, 2012. By 1:00pm the pool was already filled to capacity. “We are at full capacity and will not let people in until others start to leave,” yelled a pool attendant into a megaphone outside the pool’s entrance. The new pool accommodates 1,500 swimmers, a decrease of 700. NYC Ranks dead last in the provision of public swimming pools for a high density city. (Photo: Alissa Ambrose/DNAinfo)

Brooklyn

A day after McCarren Pool in Brooklyn shut down when lifeguards were attacked by unruly teenagers, hundreds of people lined up outside the pool on Saturday, determined to cool off from the blistering heat that again descended on the city, according to the New York Times.

Droves of people made a line stretching the length of about three blocks, drinking bottled water and eating flavored ice as they waited.

“We are at full capacity and will not let people in until others start to leave,” a pool attendant yelled into a megaphone outside the pool’s entrance. The area’s capacity is 1,500 people and the attendant, who did not give her name, said that as of 1 p.m., there were 1,502 people in and around the pool.

“It hasn’t dampened the mood too much considering this line right here,” said Evan Conquest, 30, of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

The pool was opened for the first time in 28 years on Thursday after a $50 million renovation.

The violence unfolded around 6 p.m. on Friday, about an hour before closing time.

Some teenagers doing back-flips into the pool ignored the lifeguards’ command to stop, according to a parks department spokesman. The teenagers and others then attacked the lifeguards. No arrests were reported.

Elizabeth Rodriguez, 28, who had been waiting in line for about a half hour, said the episode would not deter her from using the pool. “They have control of things. Teenagers are going to be teenagers, and it’s going to happen eventually,” she said.

“This is New York City,” said Kati Solomon, 26, but “we’ve come too far to go back at this point.”

She added: “I have faith in the parks department and the N.Y.P.D. to take care of it and make it safe the following day. They’re pretty strict about what you can bring in, so I feel pretty safe.”

A police officer was on duty at the gate on Saturday, and the parks department said that security was in place at McCarren and other outdoor pools around the city. A department spokeswoman did not immediately respond when asked by e-mail if security had been stepped up at the pool.

Read More:

A Day After Violence, Crowds Jam McCarren Pool

New York Times - June 30, 2012 - By Aaron Edwards

McCarren Pool Filled to the Brim After Reopening

DNAinfo - June 30, 2012 - By Alissa Ambrose

Day After Lifeguard Attack, McCarren Park Pool Packed With Pleasure-Seekers

gothamist - July 1, 2012 - By Jen Chung

Security Questioned At $ 50 Mil. McCarren Pool As Lifeguards

Are Attacked One Day After Opening

A Walk In The Park - July 1, 2012 - Geoffrey Croft

Security Questioned At $ 50 Mil. McCarren Pool As Lifeguards Are Attacked One Day After Opening

Lifeguards were attacked last night at McCarren Park Pool, one day after it's opening. Additional security is also being brought in A Walk In The Park has learned to provide 24/7 coverage as people have already been observed sneaking into the pool after hours. (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates)

By Geoffrey Croft

Just a day after the opening of the $ 50 million McCarren Park Pool complex in Brooklyn the facility had to be closed early due to violence after lifeguards were attacked by a group of teens.

A Parks Department City Seasonal Aid (CSA) employee providing security on the pool deck at McCarren Park Pool. Critics say the city has a fraction of the PEP officers needed to protect the public and relies too heavily on non-peace officer status personnel who receive little training to provide essential safety services in our park system, including public pools. The security personnel, including JTP's, have no enforcement authority including arrest powers, they can issue no summonses, and receive as little as one day of training.

One lifeguard sustained a cut to his mouth after he was punched in the face. He was treated at the scene. The melee began when a group of kids refused to listen when they were instructed to stop doing back-flips into the pool.

A fight broke out and the teens attacked the lifeguards just after 6:00 pm. NYPD responded but no arrests were made.

“Lifeguards at McCarren Pool were attacked by an unruly crowd, and the pool had to close to restore order, ” Parks Department spokeswoman said.

A City source said a pool security/safety plan developed in concert with NYPD and the Parks Department had still not been finalized for McCarren Pool. Critics hoped that will change after yesterday's incident.

The lack of Park Enforcemnt Patrol (PEP) officers was also strongly criticized.

"We don't have enough bodies," said a PEP officer who did not want their name used for fear of retaliation.

"We don't have the coverage. They have some nerve. Now they're scrambling as usual. The City Council has to wake up. PD is also down bodies."

Local 983 vice-president Joe Puleo said the city was continuing to put the public at risk by not having enough PEP officers and relying on untrained, non-peace officer status CSA's and Job Training Participants (JTP) as security personnel.

"They are are putting CSA's and JTP's out there as an illusion of security," Mr. Puleo said. "

They have no authority they can't even write a summonses. They can't do anything. How many more incidents have to occur until the city takes action."

The city had assigned two PEP Sergeants and 9 seasonals to the pool. This is unusually high compared to the city's other Olympic-sized pools where 1 Sgt. and 3 seasonals are generally deployed from the city's depleted ranks.

NYPD and Auxiliary officers outside the Pool on opening day.

"The Police and PEP need to be out on the pool deck," said a lifeguard.

"Lifeguards are supposed to be watching the pools not breaking up fights. We are not police or PEP. We are supposed to ensuring the safety of swimmers not being attacked. What are (JTP's) supposed to do hit them with their food stamps. They are nice people but the city is putting us - not to mention them - at risk.

As reported by A Walk In The Park, last Summer saw a rash of pool related incidents. including a number in which lifeguards were involved.

"If you don't set the tone in these places you will lose control," said a lifeguard today.

The lack of PEP has left the rest of the park system severely understaffed as well. The entire borough of Brooklyn for instance has just two PEP officers available to patrol more than 4, 300 acres of acres of park land.

Installing a camera overlooking the pool on opening day.

Read More:

Lifeguards Attacked at McCarren Pool

New York Times - June 29, 2012

Brawl Shuts Down McCarren Pool One Day After It Opens

DNAinfo - June 29, 2012 - By Julie Shapiro, Jill Colvin, Fred Dreier

Day After Opening, McCarren Park Pool Lifeguards Attacked

gothamist - June 30, 2012- By Jen Chung

Teens attack lifeguards at McCarren Park pool

New York Post - June 30, 2012 - By Rich Calder

Real Gun Used In Grandview Pool Lifeguard Threat Alleged - Order Of Protection Sought

A Walk In The Park - August 1, 2011