OXNARD : Fisherman Who Drowned Identified
A man who slipped into the Ventura River and drowned while fishing with a friend has been identified as 41-year-old Alfredo Escoto of Oxnard, authorities said Friday.
Escoto slipped from the riverbank into water about 7 feet deep around 6 p.m. Thursday.
Witnesses told sheriff’s deputies he had been pulling on a tree branch to clear the way for his fishing line when he lost his grip and fell.
Deputy Coroner Dale Zentzis said Escoto did not know how to swim, nor did his friend. By the time the friend ran to get help and returned with two employees from the nearby Ojai Rubbish Co., Escoto was underwater.
“There were lots of branches underwater. We were trying to feel for the body with our feet,” said Brady Bonsworth, a foreman at the rubbish company. “(My partner) felt something, and I went in his direction. Then we both grabbed the body and pulled it up.”
Zentzis said Escoto had been submerged for 10 to 15 minutes by the time he was pulled from the river.
“We took him to shallow water and tried to get the water out of him and start to revive him,” Bonsworth said.
Within seconds, sheriff’s deputies and firefighters arrived and took over rescue efforts, but it was too late.
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