‘He’s always been ... my own personal Superman’
Man drowned trying to save two teens in lake
Jesse Brock was an everyday superhero, always helping people in need.
So when his daughter learned he tried this weekend to save two teenage boys drowning in Lake Michigan, she was not surprised.
“He’s always cared more about others than he’s worried about himself,” Jessica Brock said. “If anyone ever needed something, he would give them the shirt off his back. He was just that kind of person.”
Brock, 50, died Sunday morning after being swept under the waves at McKinley Beach Saturday evening.
Brock saw two boys swim out to a deep part of the water where they could not stand, then he saw them go underwater, according to reports released Monday by the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office.
He helped to shore one 14-year-old boy caught in the current, then went back in to try to save the second. But even Brock, standing more than 6 feet tall, was no match for the current.
He and the second teen, 14-year-old Tony R. Bishop, were pulled under.
Tony died Saturday night after he was pulled from the water by Milwaukee Fire Department officials in a rescue boat. They attempted CPR but were unsuccessful. The other boy was hospitalized.
Jessica Brock was devastated by the loss of her father, who she said was a joyous, constant presence in her life.
“He’s always been my superhero, my own personal Superman,” she said.
The two saw each other last week, and Jessica remembers her father laughing and joking. He loved being with his three grandchildren, she said.
“We were everything to him,” Jessica Brock said.
Brock raised his four children in Illinois and moved to Milwaukee within the last six months, his daughter said. He worked as a forklift operator.
His selflessness has been a lifelong trait.
In 1996, Brock saved two women and four young children trapped in a burning home in Ford Heights, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. He helped them jump 15 feet to the grass below, according to a newspaper clipping his family saved.
“They’re calling him a hero, but Jesse Brock said his actions were just common sense,” the article begins.
Twenty-four years later, Jessica Brock is sure of her father’s heroism.
“My dad is now and forever a hero,” she said. “He died giving his life to try to help someone else, and I am extremely proud of him.”
Beach safety concerns raised
The National Weather Service issued a beach hazard warning for Saturday afternoon and evening in Ozaukee and Sheboygan counties because of 3- to 5foot waves caused by strong winds from the south along the Lake Michigan shore. But the swim risk in Milwaukee County was considered “moderate” by the weather service because waves were smaller – in the 2- to 4-foot range.
Saturday’s incident was the second drowning at McKinley Beach in less than a month. On July 18, J’Varius Bankhead, 19, drowned while trying to save two younger cousins from the water.
Milwaukee County Parks has not staffed lifeguards at McKinley Beach since 2005, according to department spokesman Luke Roman. Lifeguard positions there were cut due to a tight budget and a lack of lifeguards.
In 2018, Bradford Beach – Milwaukee’s other major beach – was staffed seven days a week, and in 2019 staffing was cut to five days a week.
Even then, lifeguards were only present until 5 p.m. The two teens began struggling around 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the parks department closed deep-well pools for the summer, and it has not staffed lifeguards at any county beach.
Milwaukee County Supervisor Sheldon Wasserman, who chairs the Parks, Energy and Environment Committee, sent a letter Monday to County Executive David Crowley asking for the county to hire lifeguards to staff Bradford and McKinley beaches for the remainder of the summer. He said he was “devastated” by the weekend’s drownings.
He also called for larger, better signage at the beaches when they are closed and an emphasis on youth swim lessons next year.
“We have a risk that has been identified and we must be ... able to work out a solution,” Wasserman told the Journal Sentinel. “And the only solution is to have lifeguards.”