The adult was hit on the bike path right north of Ocean Place, where the gate is. I witnessed the truck coming through that gate and couldnt believe my eyes. It is not very wide and a tight turn, not to mention a bike path and pedestrian area where people were leaving the beach. They had no idea anything even happened as it was a few beaches down. Plus it was a good 5 minutes after the kid was taken away. No excuse for that truck to be making that turn.

Hope the kid is Ok, he was unresponsive when found. Office Kim was wonderful as always, what an asset that guy is. As for the firetruck fiasco, the adult was hit pretty good, it took about 20 minutes for an ambulance to show up. The kid with him seemed OK. I knew it wouldnt be long for a municipal vehicle to hit someone down there. I thought it would be a kid driving on the beach or bike path first, the traffic is out of control. Or the unlicensed Hovanian 6 seat transporter with no plates that goes the wrong way up Ocean Terrace every day. Either keep vehicles off the bike path, or paint over it and make it a road again. I feel safer on Ocean Ave.

any word on the unconscious boy

This article gives hope he is OK, lets sure hope so.

Hey "Big Whitey" you should organize your facts before you run your mouth. That Hovnanian car you speak of is in fact licensed as a low speed vehicle and allowed to do exactly what it does by law. As far as the firetruck, would you be whining if it was you that needed them? I didn't think so. How about shutting your mouth and praying for those hurt and praising first responders for all they do, and not criticize them when an accident occurs during the course of their duties. Furthermore if you understood the purpose of that road initially was an access road just for emergency vehicles. Again get your facts in order before you speak.

The kid was moved to the icu

Does any shore town have restrictions on the depth of these beach holes? It would seem to be a logical and enforceable restriction either by the beach patrols or closest lifeguards not on their lifeguard stands. A very sad story and hopefully all of the kids will recover.

Very, very sad... That could have been anyone. Please slow down to the speed limit, stop tailgating, and - if responding to an emergency - please be very, very careful enroute and wary of other drivers and pedestrians/bicyclists if you feel you have to exceed the posted limit. Sure hope the child playing in the sand recovers and that the injured pedestrians are okay. Kudos to everyone who responded.

First responders should be praised for the work they do , but they also need to be acutely conscious of possibly creating more victims in their haste to get to the scene. You don't get a pass just because it is the fire co, in my opinion. Let the facts come out and pass judgement then.

May be they should put some of the bike police on the beach to let people know some of the dangers of the beach and how to safely enjoy it. Enough with the ticket revenue. And by the way the electric vehicle that was talked about I have witnessed going the wrong way on a one way street.

Whatever would Mike Wilbur say about this??? I guess the joke about the Jewish lawyer isn't so funny now...is it?

Pray for the lad, hope he has insurance , a roof over his head, and food stamps. If not blame the parents!the parents, the parents. And not us! It's not our fault. Yes, we dig holes, but not over out hips. Don't ruin it!

Long Branch rescue has made many mistakes they hire people that are not good at their jobs and look over qualified people. Its who you know not what you know. May be someday they will learn

Who would criticize the Firemen, that wasnt the point. We all know what a job they did in the West End fire, and that they will do it again next time. What is needed is a policy for that section of road to prevent someone from getting hurt. I never blamed the driver, I saw the poor guy, he was broken up, Thank God they were OK or he would have been crushed. What if it was a Sunday and there were hundreds of people in that spot? That turn should not be the entry point for firetrucks, too crowded and too narrow. There should be a plan in place to deal with emergencies in that area, and the amount of traffic on the bike path should drastically decrease.

Just to update some of the commenters, the boy in question HAS NOT DIED. Just spoke to police who told me he is in ICU. Please do not post misleading or incorrect statements in the comment stream. You never know who is reading this story (family members of the victims etc.)

Boy is still in icu on life support

There is no other access to the beaches except for that stretch of ocean AVENUE.
And Yes it is still a road on a map .NOT A BIKE PATH as all you yuppies who have invaded our town like to believe it is. I hope one day LB gets its act together and opens the entire stretch back open to cars. Be glad that these guys took there own time to respond on a HOT day as most are volunteers.
1) HOLES BEING DUG ON BEACHES . There used to be a time when life guards even in lb woulds run over and make you close the hole up.Or they would do it themselves. Many times in my younger beach days I would witness it ,Also no holes or activity allowed around any of the life stands. HAS THAT RULE BEEN LOST? Was this on a guarded beach or non guarded beach ?

Any Update this morning on the child in ICU ?

How long before no one will be allowed to dig a hole on a beach? Hope all pull through and heal up soon!

Hope all will be ok our prayers are with all the family Elberon resident

hope all will ok our prayers are with all the family !

The dr didn't expect the boy to make it threw the night. He is still in the same condition and needs a real miricale to come out of this

Stop with this first responders nonsense. most of them are wanna bes like george zimmerman. they zip around in their little pickup trucks with those stupid lights because they couldn’t be real po po. I always try to slow down and block those jack asses when I see them zipping around. And before you guys try to say it - no I don’t need them to help me - I can put out my own fires and bring myself to the hospital.

The secondary issue is that there was most likely no emergency plan for beach access across the bicycle/pedestrian path. Hence a man was struck by an emergency vehicle, according to the Patch.

Im not sure if any of you have driven emergency vehicles especially on the promenade, however, emergency vehicle operators are now used to cars pulling out in front of emergency vehicles on the roadway, cars stopping in the middle of the lane, middle of the roadway, pulling left, not right... Now you have pedestrians do the same thing, I have driven an emergency vehicle on the promenade, you would be surprised how many people step into my path way or step into the way, now add the fact that your operating a tower ladder, watching the rear of the truck to make your turn, while watching the front, while watching for pedestrians, while listening to the radio for instructions, the fact that you need the tower ladder close to the scene as it has the confined space rescue equipment on it, but it's not an easy task.

My thoughts and prayers are with the family, Once again, If it wasn't for the life guards digging him out and initiating CPR, it would be a much worse scenario.

@ michael when you have a stroke at 4am and cant take yourself to the hospital or when your house catches fire while your sleeping and you dont notice untill your blocked in your room dont call 911 keep blocking emergency vehicles. your such a stupid and immature baby if thats what you really do..

Michael vale, I hope one day it's your family that needed those jack asses. You would be the first loser whining and and crying law suit. I hope you also get witnessed one day intentionally blocking someone going to a call the cops will have a field day with you, loser.

It's generally jerks like you that the fireman have to pull their sorry asses out of a fire because they "didn't need them" till it was way beyond there alleged control.

Any update on the man and toddler ?

The road we are talking about may be an emergency access lane, but it has a large red swath painted down the middle with stencils of bicycles. To me, and I am sure out of town visitors, that makes it a bike path. The Hovanian vehicle does not have license plates, and every day it drives the wrong way up Ocean Terrace. The special officers in the yellow shirts drive ATV's up and down it all day long. Municipal trucks drive up and down all day long. The beach has even more traffic, mostly young kids driving back and forth all day long. Not trained fire and policeman, but kids, many without a license. The fact that it was a firetruck is fortunate, as we know he had training and was competent. If, however, it was a kid in an ATV that ran into that family, the City would be in trouble. The Mayor and Department heads better realize this soon, before another accident happens. We cant prevent drownings and beach accidents, but we can prevent promenade accidents with some common sense and planning. Emergency vehicles only, in an emergency situation only, would be a good start, including the beach.If not, open the road back up so people can expect traffic.

There are no real firefighters in monmouth county just the wanna bees. I also hope the po po see them since they are not allowed to speed or run red lights or drive like the jack asses they do. They have no special rights to drive any differently. They are just dudes that got bullied and wanted to be a po po but were already fat. check them out I dare you and i am sure you cry babies are all obese wanna bees also.

I am just so sickened of all this bickering back and forth, meanwhile that poor 12 year old boy buried in the sand passed away at Monmouth Medical Center this afternoon. My sincere condolences go out to his family. I think we should all pray for his family as they grieve through this tough time!

Michael, there are many people that are still alive today because of the Wannabe Fire Fighters..What a rotten thing to say..Do you know that there are many Professional Paid Firemen in Nj that are also Vol Firemen? Its obvious that you never volunteered in any capacity your whole Life..I wonder if you would ever call the Fire Dept or EMS if your Parents or any family member ever needed it? You should tell your family right now that you, as a human being cant be counted on..I do expect some type of unintelligent anser from you..

My prayers go out to the boys family. That said everyone should stop arguing and learn from this one important thing. If you see a child digging under the sand or like I was told as child under the snow, stop them immediately because sand and snow will cave in. I'm sure people at the beach witnessed the child digging and said or did nothing until it was to late.

This Michael Vale J.O. Isn't even worth the argument. Another whining ungrateful ass thats all. Thoughts and prayers with the boys family.

So terribly sorry for the family...such a senseless tragedy.

Given that this poor boy passed away, the Patch should close out this column from further posts out of respect for the family. There is no need to bicker on these trivial matters at this time.

Michael Vale is an apparent waste of skin. I wouldn't justify another of his comments with a reply.

R.I.P. little guy. And the father and child injured during the response of the L.B.F.D. is a tragic thing. As a First Responder Paid or Volunteer takes alot. Most cant cope or deal with putting ones life on the line for others. So the ones that tried and couldnt do it or never could are the
wendy whiners! So suck it up babys.

Believe it or not the City of Long Branch has an ordinance that deals with digging holes. Maybe it something the lifeguards/special officers should start to enforce. The law is on the book so why not use. Long Branch has a slew of ordinances for their beaches.
http://www.visitlongbranch.com/docs/citycodebook.pdf

City Ordinance 116-5
O. No hole shall be dug in the public bathing beach in such a manner as to leave a depression more than 12 inches deep in the surface of the land.

Why aren't the parents brought to task on this tragic loss? My parents raised four of us, and we spent summers down the shore as well?
Either that or employ an extra Nanny, preferably someone who cam speak Englsh!

It diesnt matter what race or color he was. Would you people show done decency or start another thread? What a disgrace and you should be ashamed !