Don’t bother calling for help when this guy’s on duty.
The day after a teen drowned in the treacherous riptides off Rockaway Beach, this lifeguard appeared totally oblivious to the dangers there — wearing iPod headphones on the job yesterday in clear violation of city Parks Department rules.
A Post photographer snapped the lifeguard — who was on a different stretch of beach than where the drowning occurred — in his chair at Beach 108th Street in Queens at 10:08 a.m., shortly after his eight-hour, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. shift began.
The unnamed guard was clearly violating department rules, officials said.
“Lifeguards are not permitted to wear headphones on duty,” said department spokesman Phil Abramson. “Lifeguards are supposed to give their complete and undivided attention to the job at hand.”
Abramson said the agency will investigate and “will take disciplinary action if warranted.”
He would not say if the guard would be fired or what other penalty he might face for listening to an MP3 player instead of keeping his eyes and ears focused on the beach and ocean.
Lifeguards at the beach refused to talk to a Post reporter about the photo yesterday.
But it infuriated the aunt and uncle of Daniel O’Neill, 19, of The Bronx, who drowned at Beach 25th Street after getting caught in a riptide Saturday.
The aunt, who would only identify herself as Gloria, took one look at the photo, burst into tears and ran back into her home on Monticello Avenue in the Wakefield section.
The uncle, who gave his name as Pedro, said, “A part of me died last night. And now . . . it hurts even more.
“How are they supposed to save lives if they can’t hear anything? He is supposed to be paying attention to his surroundings. This is so wrong.”
O’Neill is believed to have been outside the beach’s designated swimming area, where there are no lifeguards posted.
The Rockaway beaches, 7 miles long, are among the city’s most deadly because of their powerful currents. Published reports say more than a dozen people have drowned there in the past decade.
Anthony Colella, 45, a lifelong Rockaways resident, said he’s seen lifeguards wearing headphones in the past — and worse.
“Half the time,” he said, “they’re chatting with people. They’re listening to music. They’re on their cellphones. They’re texting with people.”
A man who said he had previously been a lifeguard at the beach for five years burst out laughing when shown the picture.
“You shouldn’t be listening to music on your earphones,” he said. “It’s just common sense. They’re told to go up there and do their jobs. When I worked here, there was nobody messing around with headphones.”
The Parks Department employs 1,200 lifeguards, with a minimum age of 16, who earn a starting salary of $13.57 an hour.