Plunge Into Icy Pond a Heroic but Tragic Act

Mario Mendoza didn’t know how to swim.

But that didn’t stop the Inglewood man from trying to save a young boy who fell through thin ice into a pond during an outing in the local mountains Wednesday.

Vainly struggling to get out of the freezing water, both Mendoza, 26, and Alex Roccamo, 7, succumbed to the cold before rescuers could reach them with rafts.

On Thursday, Mendoza’s family and friends gathered in shock, trying to comprehend the loss of the young man who adored his three young daughters, who dreamed of making it big with his car alarm business, who refused to be bowed by troubles in life. Stunned by his death, they said they were not surprised by his actions.

“I just don’t want to think it could be true that he’s gone,” said a tearful Tabare Mendoza, 38, Mario’s oldest brother. “But he would do anything for a child he thought was in danger.”

Mendoza was on a day trip to the snowy slopes around Lake Arrowhead with a group of young friends from Los Angeles. They included Alex’s 19-year-old aunt, Esther Ramirez, who was watching Alex and his brother while their mother was on a trip to Mexico, family members said.

In the afternoon, the group pulled off California 18 and made their way to the edge of a one-acre pond on private property about a quarter-mile behind the former Santa’s Village, south of Lake Arrowhead.

While Alex’s 6-year-old brother watched from the shore, the rest ventured out on the frozen pond. Alex was a few feet ahead of the group when the inch-thick ice cracked and he tumbled into the chilling water, sheriff’s officials said.

Panicking, his aunt and the others rushed to pull him to safety. Suddenly, the ice broke away beneath their feet, sending them all into the pond.

Struggling in the water, Mendoza tried to save Alex, while Servando Valdez, 19, pulled Ramirez and her 15-year-old cousin to shore. When Valdez turned to help the other two, Mendoza had disappeared under the water, said Det. Kevin Jaquez of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

Dizzy from the cold, Valdez broke off a tree branch to reach Alex, who was dog-paddling and trying to stay afloat. But before the boy could grab the branch, he sank, Jaquez said.

By the time Fire Department rescuers found the bodies, Alex and Mendoza had been submerged for almost three hours. Alex was pronounced dead at the scene. Mendoza was taken to a hospital, where efforts to resuscitate him failed.

The cause of death, pending autopsy, was listed as drowning and hypothermia, said Randy Emon, a spokesman for the San Bernardino County coroner’s office.

“If you’ve ever been submerged in cold water, you know it’s an incredible shock to your system,” said Chip Patterson, a spokesman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, which is investigating the deaths. “That kind of water can be paralyzing. It just takes your breath away.”

Such accidents are rare in Southern California. Officials warned that ice that appears thick can be weak and unstable, and may be unsafe to walk on.

“It’s an incredibly dangerous thing to do,” Patterson said. “You just don’t know how thin it is.”

Mendoza’s grief-stricken family and friends gathered Thursday at his small gray stucco duplex in the shadow of the Great Western Forum. His wife and young daughters had been on a trip to New Mexico when the accident occurred.

As low-flying airplanes cut through the misty air overhead on their approach to Los Angeles International Airport, relatives huddled in folding chairs in a crowded driveway, some weeping as they spoke of Mendoza.

He hadn’t told anyone he was going to close his business Wednesday and go to the mountains for the day, family members said, but they weren’t surprised. He loved the snow, they said, and tried to visit the local slopes at least once a year. They hd not know he was gone until officials called late Wednesday night.

A native of Michoacan, Mexico, who immigrated to Los Angeles about a dozen years ago, Mendoza was determined that his daughters, on whom he doted, would have the education he had not had, relatives said.

“He loved his kids so much,” said Martin Torres, 34, a family friend. “They were his angels.”

An ambitious businessman, he was hoping to make enough money to expand the Century Boulevard car alarm shop he had been running for about four years.

“He wanted to be better than what he was,” said his friend Marvella Hernandez, 18.

A lover of banda music and dancing, Mendoza had an infectious, upbeat personality and was always making jokes and cheering up others, friends said. Everything would work out for the best, he always told people.

“His heart was for everybody,” Torres said. “If someone was hurt, he would help.”

He loved to see children smile, friends said, and often would play games with his nieces and nephews and take them out to eat. On Mother’s Day, he flew to his parents’ home in Mexico and hired a mariachi band to surprise his mother at dawn. And he was letting Valdez, a young boxer from Tijuana, stay with him until he found a place of his own.

“He’d rather give what he had to others than keep it for himself,” said Hernandez, tears streaming down her face. “He always looked out for others. He would say, ‘Live life, because it won’t be long.’ ”