Huntington Beach : Santa Ana Man Wades Into Surf, Disappears

A 22-year-old Santa Ana man apparently drowned when he was swept under the city’s pier by currents early Tuesday, lifeguards said.

Lifeguard Capt. Bill Richardson said the victim had been drinking beer with a friend when they both waded into the water next to the pier shortly after 2 a.m. Although the water next to the pier is fairly shallow, Richardson said, both men were pulled under by the current and into water that is about eight feet deep.

The second man, who told police that his friend wasn’t a strong swimmer, managed to struggle back to shore and call the Fire Department, which alerted Richardson. At 2:36 a.m., with police, firefighters and lifeguards on the pier, a police helicopter spotted the victim grasping a piling under the lifeguard tower, located about 50 yards offshore, Richardson said.

Although Richardson and three surfers dived into the water, the man disappeared under a wave about 15 seconds after he was seen from the air and never returned to the surface. The search was suspended about 4:10 a.m. By Tuesday evening, his body had not been recovered.

Richardson said currents around the pier are unpredictable, and therefore it is impossible to say where the body might be. “We’re just playing a waiting game now,” he said.

The surf was from one to two feet Tuesday and the current was not particularly strong. Richardson said a person with even moderate swimming ability should have been able to pull free of the current.

He said the apparent circumstances surrounding the drowning were “the kind of scenario you usually see” when alcohol is involved.

Tuesday’s drowning was the first at a city beach since a Temple City man jumped off the pier on Oct. 15, 1984, in an apparent suicide, Richardson said.