STATEN ISLAND — A Sunnyside lifeguard died Sunday after a week in a coma induced from practicing holding his breath underwater in a Staten Island pool, the city Parks Department said.
U.S. Air Force recruit Jonathan Proce, 21, had been training with Manhattan friend Bohdan Vitenko, 21, July 13 at Lyons Pool in Tompkinsville while two lifeguards were on duty, the New York Post reported.
The two men went into cardiac arrest, and Vitenko died soon after, the Post reported. Proce died days later at New York Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, the Post reported.
The Parks Department offered its “deepest condolences” to the family.
“Jonathan was devoted to the well-being of his fellow New Yorkers and Americans, both in his job as a lifeguard and in his interest in serving his country in the armed forces,” Parks said. “His passing, as a result of the accident at Lyons Pool, is untimely and tragic.”
