Teen fatally injured when boat flipped
By JACK FICHTER/Sentinel staff
CAPE MAY — During a special meeting last week, City Council introduced an ordinance to rename Reading Avenue beach after Norman V. Inferrera III, 16, of Phoenixville, Pa., a first-year lifeguard with the Cape May Beach Patrol who died Aug. 21 from injuries suffered when the boat he was rowing was broadsided by a wave and capsized.
Many members of the Cape May Beach Patrol attended Inferrera’s funeral service Aug. 27 in Norristown, Pa. The lifeguards were replaced for the day in Cape May by members of other beach patrols.
Council approved a resolution authorizing a shared services agreement between the city and participating units for beach patrol aid and assistance. Councilman Chris Bezaire said the beach patrol supervisor reached out to communities within the Atlantic Cape Joint Insurance Fund (JIF) to staff the beaches while lifeguards attended the funeral in Pennsylvania.
Bezaire thanked the communities for sending lifeguards to Cape May.
“The lifeguards are a unique community and they all come to each other’s aid,” he said.
The resolution allowed Cape May to pay lifeguards from other cities for their time spent working in the city, Bezaire said.
City solicitor Chris Gillin-Schwartz said if an out-of-town lifeguard were injured in Cape May, they would be covered by their own city’s worker’s compensation. The visiting lifeguards would be covered by Cape May’s liability coverage through the JIF, he said.
The out-of-town lifeguards would not be paid directly by the city of Cape May, but the city would reimburse the various beach patrols for the per diem wages for the day.
Mayor Zack Mullock thanked the participating beach patrols: Brigantine, Ventnor, Margate, Longport, Ocean City, Upper Township, Sea Isle City, Avalon, North Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Diamond Beach and Cape May Point.
Gov. Phil Murphy issued an executive order that all flags in the state be flown at half-staff Aug. 27 in honor of Inferrera.
