OCEAN CITY – Resort police this week are still waiting on a state medical examiner’s report on the cause of death of a Pennsylvania man found unconscious in an area between buildings in the area of 17th Street early Tuesday morning.
Around 3 a.m. on Tuesday, the Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) responded to the area of 17th Street and Coastal Highway roughly in the area known as the Party Block nightclub complex in reference to an unknown male individual found unconscious and possibly not breathing.
OCPD officers arrived on the scene and found two civilians attempting to perform CPR on the individual, later identified as Christopher Paul Cherenyack, 34, of Sugarloaf, Pa.
Ocean City Fire Department paramedics arrived on the scene and took over CPR efforts from the unidentified civilians before transporting Cherenyack to Atlantic General Hospital in Berlin where he was pronounced dead.
Little is known about the events leading up to the discovery of Cherenyack in an area between buildings in the nightclub complex on the Baltimore Ave. side of the property. Party Block staffers reported Cherenyack was in the bar earlier in the evening, but it is unknown when he left and in what condition. A bar staffer reportedly found Cherenyack unconscious in the area between the buildings and attempted to revive him, thinking he was asleep, before calling 911.
According to neighbors, Cherenyack had recently moved to the 28th Street area. According to his published obituary, Cherenyack was employed by the maintenance department of the Hilton Inn and Suites in Ocean City. Ironically, the obituary also stated Cherenyack was formally trained as an emergency services technician (EMT).
According to OCPD spokesman Mike Levy, Cherenyack’s body was transported to the office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for a complete autopsy to determine the cause of death. Levy said there is no immediate indication of foul play, although the investigation is ongoing pending the outcome of the autopsy.
“As it stands right now, this is being treated as an unattended death, which is certainly not unusual, but typically they happen in buildings, homes or hotel rooms,” he said. “At the moment, there is nothing that leads us to believe there are any issues, but we’ll learn more when we get the results of the autopsy, the cause of death, which we should get fairly soon. The toxicology report could take several weeks, however.”