ST. LUCIE COUNTY — A 32-year-old man swept into the channel while swimming in the Fort Pierce Inlet Tuesday afternoon was pronounced dead less than two hours later, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Lataurus Conley was boating near the Fort Pierce Inlet about 1 p.m. Tuesday and was swimming with friends in the inlet, DEP public information officer Amy Graham said in an e-mail. The outgoing tide swept Conley into the channel, and a fisherman helped in rescuing Conley. (more…)

HUTCHINSON ISLAND — A 28-year-old Stuart man drowned this afternoon at a beach south of the Jensen Beach Causeway.

Phillip Heycock of the 100 block of Southwest Salerno Road and two friends, a male and a female, had gone to Bryn Mawr Beach south of the Jensen Beach Causeway about 2 p.m. Heycock had been in the water about 10 minutes when the friends realized he was in distress and called 911, about 2:20 p.m.

Firefighters responded to the beach three minutes later, Martin County Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Kit Worley said.

Haycock was about 50 to 75 feet offshore when he was pulled to the shore but it was too late, Worley said.

“Unfortunately he was down too long,” he said.

Martin County Sheriff’s detectives said there were no signs of trauma and believe the drowning to be accidental.

Breezy weather in the Treasure Coast has heightened the possibility of riptides.