Search on for NYPD's Patrick Luca after son's rescue

The search continues Saturday morning for a missing New York City police officer who went missing Friday after falling out of a kayak in Smithtown Bay while boating with his 5-year-old son.

Suffolk County police said they have found no signs of Patrick Luca but that the search, which includes the department's Marine Bureau, the NYPD and the Coast Guard, will continue throughout the day.

The discovery at about 3 p.m. of the frightened and shivering child -- who was still wearing a life jacket -- set off an intensive search by several federal, county and village-level agencies for the boy's father, Luca, 41, in Smithtown Bay, just off the Nissequogue River.

Suffolk County Police Marine Bureau Deputy Insp. Harold Jantzen said the "boy is doing excellent," adding that "there are no ill effects" of his exposure to the 70-degree water.

Officials said they would search into the night for Luca, who lives in Smithtown.

"He was the best," said a neighbor, who identified herself as Dawn, sobbing as she spoke. "I don't even want to say 'was' because I want him to still be alive. He's the kindest, nicest person you'll ever meet."

Another neighbor said he was too distraught to talk Friday night.

Coast Guard Cmdr. Eric Doucette said a man in a private boat picked up the 5-year-old and the kayak was found near the buoys that start in Smithtown Bay and proceed down the river.

The Sea Eagle inflatable kayak was stationery, about 500 yards offshore and in about 8 feet of water, officials said.

Teddy Sandomenico, 58, of Kings Park, said he was traveling to Connecticut with his wife when he noticed someone in the water and began steering toward the person.

"I saw somebody in the water, which is unusual that far out," Sandomenico said at the scene. "So I turned around and it turns out to be a 5-year-old kid."

He said the boy, who was shaking and distraught, said his father was with him in the kayak but that his father "went down" into the water.

"He was a little upset, shivering," Sandomenico said of the boy. "So we called it in to the Coast Guard and bay constables -- and the world responded."

A woman standing on the dock at Kings Park said she saw a Suffolk County Police Marine boat bring the boy to shore.

"He looked fine," said Peggy Gilmartin, 55, of Kings Park. "I thought he would look terrified, but they were carrying him and he was fine."

A fire marshal on the scene said the boy's mother was coming to pick him up. Until his mother arrived, the child was providing information to rescuers and was being cared for by an ambulance crew.

During the day, the Northport fire rescue team conducted sonar scanning in the water, Suffolk police divers searched under the surface and the Coast Guard sent both a helicopter and vessel to the scene, said Command Duty Officer John Olsen of Coast Guard Long Island Sound in Connecticut.

With Robert Brodsky, William Murphy

and Zachary R. Dowdy