(WPHL) – A lifeguard in New Jersey was injured this week after she was impaled by an umbrella at a beach on the Jersey Shore.
The incident occurred around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at Asbury Park Beach, Asbury Park Fire Chief Kevin Keddy told Nexstar’s WPHL. He later confirmed that the victim had been trying to “control” the umbrella from her lifeguard tower when she fell and became impaled on the pole.
“It was not a wind thing, where [the wind] picked up the umbrella,” Chief Keddy clarified in a statement to Nexstar on Thursday.
Keddy said the lifeguard was impaled in her left shoulder, with the umbrella penetrating through her back.
One of her coworkers was already administering aid when fire department officials arrived.
For the safety of the victim, medical personnel could not immediately remove the umbrella. Keddy said it had to be cut down before the woman was taken to the hospital.
All the while, the victim was conscious, alert and calm throughout the ordeal, and as she was transported via a stretcher to the ambulance and ultimately the hospital, according to the fire department.
The severity of her injury was not immediately clear, but Keddy indicated that she only spent one night in the hospital.
“It’s my understanding that she was released from the hospital this morning,” Keddy told Nexstar on Thursday.