Autopsy finds teen who fell off whale watching boat died from drowning

July 16, 2005, 5:56 PM EDT


CAPE MAY POINT, N.J. -- A teen who fell off a whale watching boat earlier
this year died of drowning and was not killed by a fall or the boat's
propeller, an autopsy has determined.

Dr. Lyla Perez of the Southern Regional Medical Examiner's Office determined
that Nicholas Johs, 14, of Staten Island, N.Y. died accidentally, a state
Division of Criminal Justice spokeswoman told The Press of Atlantic City for
Saturday's editions.

Police had reported that Johs was struck by a propeller just seconds after
he fell off the Whale Watcher II during an outing with his Boy Scout troop
from New York on April 30. Those reports, along with the discovery of Johs'
T-shirt around the propeller, raised speculation that he was already dead
when boat worker Ralph Genovese dove into the 48-degree water and tried to
save him.

The cold water quickly placed Genovese in danger, causing him to give up the
rescue attempt. Johs' body was then found nearly three weeks later off the
Coast Guard base in Cape May.

While the autopsy ruled drowning as the cause of death, it did find injuries
that may have been caused by the fall, the propellor or other factors,
officials said.