Paterson Man Drowns in River; He Jumped in to Retrieve Ball

By DANIELLE SHAPIRO, SPECIAL TO THE RECORD

PATERSON A 26-year-old city man jumped into the Passaic River behind John F. Kennedy High School on Sunday afternoon to retrieve a soccer ball.

He never came back.

Witnesses identified the man as Tyrone Beach. They said he was fishing with friends when the soccer ball went into the river.

Judith Rodriguez said Beach was laughing as he stripped to his underwear and went after the ball. The men whose ball it was had offered $25 to whoever would recover it, said several of Beach’s fishing buddies.

But after swimming quickly into the river, which reaches depths of 10 feet, Beach started struggling, witnesses said. Rodriguez said she saw him come up and go under the water at least twice.

"Then he just sunk," she said.

The Paterson Fire Department was called at 2:17 p.m., said Deputy Fire Chief Joseph Murray. Beach’s body was located by members of the Paterson Fire Department and recovered at 4 p.m. by the Passaic County Sheriff’s Department scuba team, Murray said.

Friends and relatives watched from the riverbank in shock and horror. Beach’s mother, Bonnie Beach, and sister, Aiesha Beach, huddled. Bonnie Beach kept her back to the river as her son’s body was pulled from the water and placed in a yellow bag.

Beach was not married but had been with his girlfriend, Audrey Frye, 25, for 10 years, she said. They had one son, Tysaun Beach, 2, Frye said.

Frye could not understand why Beach went fishing, saying he didn’t do it often.

She called him "kindhearted," and other relatives said he loved hip-hop music, basketball and children.

"He was a loving, caring father," said his aunt, Pam Beach.

Four boats from the West Paterson, Totowa and Paterson fire departments, along with the Sheriff’s Department, searched the river behind Kennedy High School. Two boats from the Fair Lawn and Hawthorne fire departments searched below the Great Falls, Murray said.

Paterson police are investigating, but it was likely an accidental drowning, Murray said.

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