ASBURY PARK – A 19-year-old lifeguard was impaled by a beach umbrella after a gust of wind knocked her from her stand on the Third Avenue beach, officials said.
The incident happened on June 25. The woman was sitting atop a lifeguard chair, about five feet high, when she fell and landed on the pole of a six-foot-long umbrella, said Asbury Park Fire Chief Kevin Keddy. The metal stake pierced her upper left shoulder and exited through her back.
“When we arrived, she was on the ground with the umbrella stake impaling her,” Keddy said. “There were many lifeguards surrounding her.”
Firefighters used a saw to cut the umbrella at both ends before transporting her to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, leaving the pole in place per emergency protocol.
He added that the lifeguard remained calm and professional throughout..
Her condition was not immediately known.
