Scuba Diver Drowns Off Catalina Island
A scuba diver drowned Saturday while diving for fish and lobster a quarter-mile off Santa Catalina Island, sheriff’s deputies said.
William Roger Brassard, 36, of San Diego was diving in 25-foot-deep water with four friends west of Eagle Rock on the island’s west side when he failed to surface at 1:15 p.m., Deputy Rick Blevins said.
Brassard’s companions retrieved him from below the surface and brought him to their boat, Blevins said, where they gave him cardiopulmonary resuscitation and radioed for help.
Brassard was certified to scuba dive in 1978, but had not been diving for a year, Blevins said.
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