As temperatures hit over 90 degrees yesterday, two Bronx teenagers drowned in the Bronx River. In spite of a sign that says "No Swimming," it's believed that 17-year-old David Luccioni and 15-year-old Crystal Reyes climbed over a metal fence to swim in the river. A 13-year-old witness Santiago Shulterbrandt said, "We thought they were playing. But then we saw they were drowning. We dived in before the Fire Department got here. They were getting lost in the mud."
The teens were swimming in an area near the Bronx Zoo entrance, at E 180th Street and Boston Road, where a fence that ranges in height from four to eight feet doesn't prevent people from jumping in. A friend who was wading with the pair told the Post, “[Reyes] was screaming and going up and down into the water, and then she was gone." Luccioni apparently then dove into the water to help her—he didn't even take his construction boots off. But both disappeared.
Firefighters and police divers were able to pull the pair out of the river (1010 WINS reports that the first firefighters on the scene jumped in even without scuba gear), but it was 15 minutes before Luccioni was found in 20 feet of water; Reyes was found 10 minutes after that. The pair were pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital. Reyes' neighbor told WABC 7, "Youth are so always so daring. But this little girl was so special to me. I don't know."
One nearby resident told WCBS 2, "On a hot day, it becomes a danger zone. Children do go in there regardless if there are any signs up or not." Another said to WABC 7, "This is a poor man's swimming pool. This is where we came to learn how to swim and cool off."
