Transient Drowns After Drug Overdose
The body of an apparent drowning victim was found Monday in the Los Angeles River south of White Oak Avenue and Victory Boulevard, police said.
The 21-year-old man, a transient whose identity was withheld pending notification of his relatives, appeared to have drowned accidentally in the five-inch deep, six-foot-wide wash that runs down the middle of the concrete riverbed, said Detective Phil Quartararo.
The man was reportedly disoriented due to an overdose of sleeping pills he took after being told he could no longer live in a nearby house where he had been staying, Quartararo said. The overdose was not fatal in itself, but the man staggered into the riverbed and collapsed face-down in the water, he said.
The body was spotted by passers-by from an overpass about 6 a.m. Monday, police said.
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