BRADENTON BEACH – It was just after 1 a.m. on Jan. 12 when three fishermen on a boat near the Bradenton Beach Pier needed a break from the inclement weather and decided to head to the adjacent dinghy dock to get warm.
When they pulled up to the dock, they observed what appeared to be a coat and clothing lying on the dock. As they got closer, they found a man slumped over the end of the dock with his head underwater. The reporting witness, Joshua Adkins, called 911 and waited for police to arrive.
According to his report, Bradenton Beach Police Officer Thomas Ferrara responded to the scene with Officer Roy Joslin and Officer Devon Straight to investigate.
“As we approached the dimly lit end of the dock, I observed an adult male body, obviously deceased with the chest area laying over the edge of the dock above the water and the left leg laying straight out on top of the dock out of the water,” Ferrara said in his report. “The right leg was above the water and half wrapped around a wooden piling that was attached to the dock. The deceased had both hands and arms dangling in the water and his entire head was under the surface of the water.”
After confirming that the deceased was beyond resuscitation, Straight pronounced the time of death to dispatch and the officers left the pier. They briefed their supervisors, Chief John Cosby, Sgt. Steve Masi and Lt. Lenard Diaz, about the situation. Diaz told Ferrara to contact the medical examiner and the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit to respond and photograph the scene, according to the report.
The Sun spoke to Diaz on Jan. 12, who said the victim, identified as Mark Allen Crooks, 63, lived on a boat the department had cited previously for not being properly operational in the bay near the Bradenton Beach Pier. Diaz said Crooks had moved the boat to the coast of Cortez to avoid further Bradenton Beach violations.
Diaz said there was no foul play suspected in the death, and that the results of the autopsy would not be available by press time. Whether the man drowned or had a medical emergency that led to his death will not be known until that report is made available.
