CBS2 Exclusive: Family Blames Lack Of Ambulance Service For Man's Death At Jones Beach

WANTAGH, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- If there were a medical emergency at the beach, you might expect a quick response at one of the area's most popular state parks.

But as CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reported exclusively Wednesday, a grieving widow said her husband died waiting for that help that came too late.

Mary Mullady remembers the panic moments after leaving a concert at Jones Beach. Her 68-year-old husband, John, a Vietnam veteran, had had a heart attack and was unconscious behind the wheel on Ocean Parkway.

Mullady reached over and navigated the car into the bushes near the Jones Beach Tower.

"I got out of the car and ran around, and called 911 right away," she said. "Everybody knows minutes; seconds count when a person is unconscious and just had a heart attack."

But as minutes ticked by, help had not arrived. Mullady remembered the ambulance parked right outside the concert -- why wasn't it coming?

"Where is everybody?" she said.

Six minutes after Mullady's 911 call, one park police officer on patrol came upon the car.

"That night, I was the only officer on patrol for the park police," said the officer, Troy Caupain.

But there was still no ambulance.

Paramedics were on the way, but from the mainland. The nearest volunteer fire department was six miles away in Wantagh.

The EMS crew finally arrived on the scene after 18 minutes. But that was too late for John Mullady.

"It's unbelievable, in our country, for a man to have passed away in this way," said the Mulladys' daughter, Tara Tassani.

In the year since his death, Mullady's Rockville Centre family learned the ambulance at the Jones Beach Theater is private and has no jurisdiction off concert grounds.

"The fact there was an ambulance there and that help did not arrive in time; my mother running in the streets, waving people down -- this should not happen at Jones Beach," Tassani said.

"There is a lot wrong with this picture," said Manuel Vilar of the New York State Patrolmen's Benevolent Association and Park Police Sergeant' Association, "and we've been saying for many, many years now that understaffing of the state Park Police, and the other of resources in state parks, is going to lead to a fatality."

The state parks police union called the situation unsafe -- shifts with only one or two police officers patrolling some of the area's busiest parks, and no permanent ambulance on the barrier island for medical emergencies

A Nassau County police ambulance is assigned to Jones Beach, but only from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. during the beach season.

The ambulance is not assigned for later hours, when thousands are still on the beach, driving to or from concerts, or out for on the boardwalk and bike trails throughout the park. The beach is open until midnight during the high season.

"The lack of ambulance service they are providing is a dereliction," Vilar said. "It's a skirting of their responsibility to the taxpayers and the people of the state of New York."

Officer Caupain was the lone state Park Police officer covering five state parks scattered throughout Nassau County that night. He said one person on patrol is not enough.

"No, not at all," Caupain said. "The state's taking a huge risk with liability."

It was a concern echoed by retired Park Police Sgt. Tom Duingan.

"While you're inviting people down here to new and better attractions, you've got to make sure they're safe and they'll have the assistance they will need when they need it, not 20 minutes later," Duingan said.

A spokesman would only say the state is increasing police levels and "routinely partners with state and local law enforcement to respond to an emergency."

"State Parks has authorized Park Police training academies for the past four consecutive years, steadily increasing Park Police levels from 207 officers to 240 officers currently," the statement said. "To assist Park Police in peak summer months, State Parks hires an additional 125 public safety rangers."

Mary Mullady has filed a formal complaint.

"I feel that the way my husband died is a disgrace," she said, "and I don't want in the future for that to happen to anyone else."

Mary Mullady said her husband died in the one place where the response time for a medical emergency was more than twice the county average.

The issue of staffing New York State Parks has long been a point of contention on Long Island with 29 state parks and only 39 police officers in all. The state claims its public safety rangers fill in gaps during the high season, but they are not trained paramedics that may have saved John Mullady's life.