Man Arrested After Sewage-y Swim At Coney Island

Yesterday, a number of beaches, including Coney Island and Manhattan Beach, were closed after concerns that raw sewage, which overflowed from a sewage plant, had contaminated the water. But one beachgoer at Coney Island ignored the many announcements and actually decided on a swim—only to be "cited for failing to comply with an officer" (the Daily News also has a photo of him being restrained from possibly heading back to the water). Others were disappointed, telling the Daily News, "We were looking forward to this day all week. It takes two hours to get here from the Bronx. The water looks okay to me," and "In New York, they exaggerate. They see a mosquito flying near the water, and they make a big deal." Beaches are reopening, but swimming is not allowed.

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By Jen Chung in News on June 8, 2009 9:51 AM

Comments [rss]

r1b2

Funny this. If there's poo in the water, it doesn't take much effort to keep me out.

Mr Mel

Let's get the Rev. Al on the case.

ed_Extinct

This is coming from the same crop of people who if they did swim and did get sick, would raise the roof and ask why the city didn't tell them.

losers.

KiljoyWasHere

I was at Coney Island yesterday. There were no signs anywhere telling people not to go in the water, only a lackadaisical teenager dressed in orange blowing his whistle and saying, "get out!"

Though I'm all for the spewing of unfounded hatred, no one was making an effort to let people know what was going on.

Felix Hoenikker

Yeah but now he'll fight crime with his new super powers.

bebonyc

Bad Boy

Bad Boy

Swimmin' in the poo

Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?

hotstepper

gothamist seems to be having a run on poo-related stories. keep up the good work folks!

whitecastlerock

great shot of the arrested swimmer

Brooklynbobby

Maybe it was him that contaminated the water.

dimadelux

Isn't the water in Coney Island usually filled with Poo, even without the sewage plant?

nycnewsjunkie

"The water looks okay to me"

-idiot

"took us 2 hours to get here from the bronx"

-last time i checked theres closer beaches in the bronx, or save up some damn $ and take the train out to the LI beaches.

nicemarmot

That is very odd. Where I come from people are discouraged from swimming in the sewage but nobody's going to stop you if you really want to. Why not let the idiots swim? If they get really sick they might die and thereby remove themselves from the population. It was like the tourists ignoring red flags and swimming and drowning; if you want to be that stupid, go ahead.

JenChungsBaby

The Coney Island crowd would just end up in some public hospital emergency room, hanging the bill for their uninsured treatment on us taxpayers. An ounce of prevention in the form of $12/hour lifeguards is worth a pound of cure in some expensive ER somewhere.

JenChungsBaby

I was at Coney Island yesterday but wasn't there to swim and stayed on the boardwalk. The usual assortment of families, weirdos, hoochy mamas, and tattooed ex-cons.

buttface

The side effects of building a metropolis: any environments outside of the boundaries of concrete are completely ruined.

I don't see how people can swim in any ocean north of the Mason Dixon.

barryap

I understand it's disappointing to not be allowed to swim, but THE WATER WAS FILLED WITH HUMAN FECES. Honestly, I'd say let people go in and let natural selection take care of things, but then our tax dollars go to their inevitable medical care.