BRADENTON BEACH – Liveaboard boater Jerald Joseph Oliver, 60, was found dead and floating in the water at the Bradenton Beach Marina on Wednesday.
Oliver’s body was discovered by marina employee Andy Tolar shortly before 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 2, according to the incident report prepared by Det. Sgt. Lenard Diaz of the Bradenton Beach Police Department.
“He (Tolar) was walking along the dock and dropped his keys into the water. While looking into the somewhat shallow water to find his keys, he noticed something floating in the water, to his left, just under the dock. Mr. Tolar realized that what he sees floating in the water is a person face down. Mr. Tolar grabs a pole off a nearby boat and tried to reach the person floating. The pole was not long enough, so Mr. Tolar yells for help and two gentlemen that work at the marina – Cory Stickler and Joshua Wilson – came to help. Cory and Joshua got on a boat and went over to the person floating in the water and were able to get him on to the bow of the boat and start CPR,” according to Diaz’s report.
When Diaz arrived on the scene, Wilson was administering CPR.
“As Joshua was doing CPR, I noticed that the gentleman he was working on was bleeding from his left temple and had abrasions on his lower legs. By this time, Paramedic Millard had arrived on scene and came down to the floating dock to take over. Paramedic Millard and I picked up the gentleman and moved him off the floating dock and to a flat concrete surface on land. Paramedic Millard did his assessment of the gentleman and determined that he could not be saved. Paramedic Millard called the time of death at 3:05 p.m. At that time, I began gathering witness information and detailed accounts of what had happened,” according to Diaz’s incident report.
The report notes Tolar, Stickler and Wilson recognized Oliver because he had lived on his boat at the marina for many years.
“I talked to another gentleman who had shown up after the incident happened – later identified as Richard Anthony Correa. Mr. Correa stated that he was just at the Drift In bar with Mr. Oliver about 45 minutes before. Mr. Correa and Mr. Oliver were friends and both had a few drinks at the bar. Mr. Correa also stated that Mr. Oliver came up to the bar to get a bottle of alcohol and go back to his boat, which he said was normal for Mr. Oliver to do,” according to Diaz’s report.
“Mr. Oliver was taken by the transport to the medical examiner’s office for further investigation. No further action was taken by me at that time,” the report concludes.
A well-liked man
Bradenton Beach Marina President Mike Bazzy said Oliver lived at the marina for the past four years.
“It’s unfortunate. They think it was a drowning and it looked like he had bumped his head. We tried to resuscitate him, and we couldn’t,” Bazzy said.
“He was a really good guy and there were a lot of people around town who knew him. Everyone around town called him Oliver. They all knew him as Oliver, but his first name was Jerald. He spent a lot of time on Bridge Street,” Bazzy said.
Drift In Manager Doreen Flynn spoke fondly of Oliver.
“He was a really nice man. If anybody called him Ollie, he used to say, ‘My name is not Ollie, please call me Oliver.’ He had a heart of gold and he would help anybody. I was very sad when I got the phone call,” Flynn said.
Drift In bartender Sharon Bell said, “Oliver was a character and a half. He did things his own way and never had an unkind word for anybody. He was part of our motley crew and he will be missed. 2020 strikes again.”
Flynn said a celebration of life will be held at the Drift In on Friday afternoon, Dec. 11.
