Man Drowns Trying to Earn $10 at Lake : Tragedy: The victim went into the water to retrieve a remote-controlled boat. He had overheard the owner offering a friend--in jest--money for the task.

A young man who apparently thought he could make $10 by retrieving a disabled, remote-controlled boat from a lake drowned Monday as two men tried to save him, police said.

The unidentified man, who had ridden a bicycle to Centennial Regional Park, was described by police as a Latino in his mid-20s, Police Lt. Robert Helton said. The man carried no identification, Helton said.

The boat’s owner, Joseph R. Smith, 31, of Los Angeles, had gone to the lake about 9 a.m. to sail and photograph his remote-controlled boats. He was accompanied by his wife, Laura, and a friend.

“We had just gotten this video camera a week ago and I wanted to break it in,” Laura Smith said.

But when one boat stalled about 20 to 30 feet from shore, and attempts to snag it with a fishing line failed, Smith turned to their friend, Micheele Allan Oak of Los Angeles, and made a half-joking offer of $10 to retrieve the boat.

“It wasn’t a serious offer, and it sounded like it was made more in jest,” Helton said.

However, the offer, according to police and witnesses, set off a tragic chain of events when another man either overheard it or was told about it, and without warning began swimming toward the boat.

As he reached it, the man started to sink in the cold and murky water.

“We don’t know whether it was the temperature of the water or (whether) he couldn’t swim, or cramps, but he gets into trouble,” Helton said.

Smith, who apparently was shocked to see the man go after his boat, immediately dived in to save him and was followed by a man who was fishing nearby.

But the victim, in apparent desperation, grabbed Smith, who has a heart murmur, and took him underwater during a life-and-death struggle as both rescuers were alternately being pulled under by the desperate man.

Within minutes, Smith, cold, fatigued and unable to swim, yelled: “Help me, I can’t do it. He’s pushing me down. I can’t grab him.”

The second rescuer, later identified by Smith’s wife as Michael Leausa of Santa Ana, made several futile attempts to dive for the victim, who had disappeared beneath the water. Leausa then turned to Smith and helped him reach shore.

Oak had gotten into the water but stayed close to shore to help Smith.

In the meantime, Smith’s wife, who had videotaped the entire incident, ran to the couple’s truck and, with the use of a portable phone, called police.

Helton said divers later found the unidentified man in 6 feet of water about 30 feet from shore.

Smith, who managed to reach the shore, was taken to Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center for observation. He was in good condition Monday night, his wife said.

Rip Ribble, assistant director of Santa Ana’s Recreation and Community Services, said this was the first drowning he could recall since Centennial Park was completed in 1979. The county park and the man-made lake, which has a natural sand bottom at a depth of 6 to 8 feet, are operated and maintained by the city of Santa Ana. Swimming is banned in the lake.

“We have 12 signs posted around the lake prohibiting people from swimming,” Ribble said. “We use a universal ‘No swimming,’ symbol.” Smith’s wife said her husband was devastated after the drowning.

“This was a friend-to-friend thing. Joe had gotten into the water a week earlier to retrieve a boat, and when this happened, he asked Micheele, half in jest, to go after it because it was his turn to get wet,” Laura Smith said. “I’m sure that if this guy didn’t pull up and overhear what was said about the money, it would have been Joe going in. But I think he needed the money. We didn’t know him, and we didn’t talk to him at all. It’s very sad,” she said.

“In my own mind, when I saw this guy walking out in the water, I said to myself that this guy doesn’t know how to swim. He was kind of leery,” Laura Smith said.

After her husband entered the water, she became fearful because his sweat pants, which absorbed water, weighed him down.

When her husband was finally pulled to safety, his color “was blue,” she said, and he was grabbing his heart.

Helton said Smith apparently “made a valiant effort to save this guy.”