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FREDERIKSTED — The brother of a Virgin Islands Police Department officer drowned while swimming near the Frederiksted Pier 0n St. Croix, authorities said.
At about 2 p.m., a passerby flagged down a police officer walking on Strand Street and alerted him that someone was calling for help on the pier.
The passerby and the officer found a man on the beach who said he had been swimming with his brother and lost sight of him, so first responders were called in to assist.
A nearby dive shop and jet ski rental business helped in the response to the emergency and rescuers located the body of a man floating near a catamaran.
Robert White, 56, was rushed to the Juan F. Luis Hospital but was pronounced dead as soon as he arrived.
White was identified as the driver of a concrete truck that crashed into the old Ice Cream Decadence building in Mt. Welcome on March 5. He reportedly had an injured leg since the accident.
VIPD spokesman Glen Dratte said the 911 Emergency Call Center received a report at 2:23 p.m. about two people in distress at the Frederiksted Pier.
TWO TRAGIC ACCIDENTS IN TWO MONTHS: Police identified the dead man as 56-year-old Robert White, the driver of a cement truck that crashed into the former Ice Cream Decadence building on March 5.