SIMI VALLEY : Man Drowns While Cleaning His Pool

A 36-year-old Simi Valley man who could not swim drowned in his back-yard pool while cleaning it Sunday morning, police said.

Jonathan Um’s wife found his body floating in the pool about 10 a.m., police said.

He was pronounced dead at Simi Valley Hospital at 11:09 a.m. Sunday, Ventura County Deputy Coroner Mitch Breese said.

“He had told his wife he was going out to clean the pool,” Simi Police Lt. Don Austin said.

“No one knows how he got into the pool, whether he fell or slipped. She came out a few minutes later and found him.”

Shawn Chung, Um’s brother-in-law, said his sister was in the kitchen and “didn’t hear anything for about 10 to 15 minutes. She looked out and saw one slipper upside down in the pool. She didn’t think he fell in, but she went outside.”

A neighbor heard her scream and pulled Um out of the pool, Austin said.

Um, who lived in the 1800 block of Sitka Avenue, was an electronics engineer at Fibermux Corp. in Chatsworth, Chung said.

“He was a pretty quiet person. He put all his time to work,” Chung said.

“He was a sensitive, nice guy.”