West Palm man drowns at Boca Bash event

BOCA RATON — A 32-yearold West Palm Beach man attending the Boca Bash floating party Sunday drowned while swimming in Lake Boca, Boca Raton police said.

The man was identified Monday as Francis Roselin. According to a police statement, a swimmer noticed just after 5 p.m. Sunday that Roselin was at the bottom of the Intracoastal Waterway in an area about 5 feet deep.

Two of Roselin’s friends had flagged down a city marine-unit vessel and reported that he had disappeared while swimming in the lake, a body of water between the Boca Raton Resort and Club and the barrier island, northwest of the Boca Raton Inlet.

The marine unit searched the lake with help from Palm Beach County Ocean Rescue, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office, which supplied a helicopter.

Roselin was pulled out and placed on a Boca Raton police marine-unit vessel, where paramedics attempted to revive him with CPR.

The Boca Bash is an unofficial one-day water party that draws boaters, kayakers, paddleboarders and others to Lake Boca. It is held each year on the final Sunday of April.

Boca Raton resident Brad Geisen told The Palm Beach Post in 2017 that he and a group of friends founded the event in 2007 as a floating birthday party for a friend.

The party was canceled amid concerns by city officials, but scores of boaters showed anyway.

The event has grown in popularity over the years, and city police routinely patrol parks and the waterway during the event.

A spokesman for Boca Raton police said that no arrests were made during Sunday’s gathering, although police officers issued 16 citations regarding boating safety.

The Boca Raton investigation into the drowning death remained open late Monday. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Lazarus Kimsal at 561620-6144.