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Johnson drowned last year after a prank went wrong in Orchard Beach. He was reported missing June 20 after he and several friends reportedly went for a late-night swim in the Bronx. Johnson disappeared just before 11 p.m. after jumping from a boat into Long Island Sound with a group of others to swim. Police said the boat pulled away without Johnson.
According to the family, other passengers on the boat had told them the driver, a classmate of Johnson's at Ossining High School, decided to pull a prank and drive the boat about 50 yards away from the swimmers in the water. The driver didn't return in time to get Johnson out of the water. His body was found several days later.
Sen. David Carlucci, Assembly member Sandy Galef and Town of Ossining officials gathered at the Ossining Boat and Canoe club to officially rename the boat ramp the Bryan J. Johnson Memorial Boat Ramp.
In the year following Bryan's death, his family worked with Carlucci and Galef to pass New York's toughest boating safety package. Their bill will soon require everyone -- beginning 18 years old and under -- to pass a certified boating safety course before permitted to operate a mechanically propelled vessel.
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