A man who died after being pulled from the ocean off the coast of Rancho Palos Verdes was identified Monday as a Long Beach resident.
Erick Herrera, 29, died at a hospital about 1:15 p.m. Sunday, said coroner’s Assistant Chief Ed winter.
Herrera was pulled from the water by a friend shortly before noon near Hawthorne Boulevard and Calle Entradero, according to the sheriff’s department. Emergency personnel were dispatched to the scene and Herrera was taken to a hospital via a helicopter, but he died.
This death came less than a week after the tattooed body of another distressed swimmer was found on the morning of the Fourth of July in shallow Rancho Palos Verdes waters.
Christopher Elton, 27, had been seen by people on shore last Monday before sunset as he screamed for help despite holding onto some kind of flotation device. After a widespread search, his body was discovered Tuesday morning near Seawall Road, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department and the coroner’s office.
An autopsy was pending to pinpoint the cause of death, according to coroner’s Assistant Chief Ed Winter. Elton’s home town was not known, he said.
Witnesses reported hearing someone screaming for help at 6:45 p.m. Monday in the area of Portuguese Bend, the county fire department reported.
Anyone with information on the Herrera case was urged to call the sheriff’s Lomita Station at (310) 539-1661.
— City News Service