An 82-Year-Old Palm Coast Resident Dies After He Is Pulled from the Surf, Disoriented, in Marineland

Carmelo Legato, an 82-year-old resident of Palm Coast on an outing in Marineland Friday morning, was pulled out of the surf after he had stumbled in the water, lost consciousness, and died after CPR efforts by a good Samaritan and Flagler County Fire Rescue proved unsuccessful.

It isn’t clear if Carmelo died by drowning, from one of several medical conditions, or in an attempt to take his own life.




Carmelo’s 75-yerar-old wife told Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies, who investigated the incident, that her husband had been suffering from anxiety and depression ever since the couple had moved to Florida, with family left up north. When a healthcare provider asked Carmelo what should could do for him to help, he replied: “I just want to go,” by which, according to his wife, he meant he wanted to die.

The couple had driven to Marineland Friday morning to spend a little time at the beach, with his wife driving since Carmelo himself no longer drove. At one point Carmelo went for a walk on the long boardwalk along the River to Sea Preserve. He apparently went by himself. His wife told authorities she urged him to keep by the railing and not to wander down to the beach or the surf. Carmelo was not steady on his feet, had been suffering from a heart condition, and may have had undiagnosed dementia, his wife told authorities. She had given him the car keys in case he got tired during his walk and wanted to go to the car to rest. She eventually lost sight of him, and began looking for him when she saw the ambulance at the scene.

William and Sharon Draper, a Massachusetts couple in their early 70s vacationing in St. Augustine, had driven down to Marineland that morning. They were at the beach when William first noticed Carmelo in the distance. He “would crawl on the rocks, walk to the beach, turn around, and walk back out again,” according to Draper’s description to authorities. Draper “saw Carmelo standing in the water when he fell into the ocean.” Carmelo stood up of his own accord, then an unidentified woman went out in knee-deep water to help him, and soon after the Drapers did so as well. Carmelo was soaking wet, wheezing, disheveled and disoriented.




As William Draper and the woman were pulling Carmelo out, Sharon called 911 and went nearer to the road to guide rescuers once they arrived. The unidentified woman meanwhile was giving Carmelo CPR as he had lost consciousness. Flagler County Fire Rescue 41, Palm Coast Fire Department Engine 22 and sheriff’s units were soon at the scene. The woman who first helped Carmelo was never identified, and left the scene soon after rescue personnel arrived.

The 911 center got the initial report of the incident at 12:34. CPR efforts–by the unidentified woman, by sheriff’s deputy Barrett, and by fire rescue paramedics went on until 1:13 p.m., when a paramedic pronounced Carmelo Legato deceased.

The incident had unfolded on the beach between Marineland Dolphin Adventure and the River to Sea Preserve’s north beach entrance, by the gray rock revetment. (Notably, rescue personnel had difficulties communicating by radio because of a poor signal.) The Sheriff’s Office’s investigative division sent detectives to the scene, as is routine in such matters, to rule out foul play (it was ruled out). The medical examiner’s office in St. Augustine claimed the body for an autopsy. Legato had been a resident of Slumber Meadow Trail in Palm Coast.