Boy, 12, Is Remembered as Hero

His friends see him as a hero, a brave 12-year-old who battled the ocean to save a friend.

Daniel Quijada, a seventh-grader from Santa Ana, died Wednesday, two days after he was caught in a rip current off Corona del Mar State Beach. Lifeguards said he was trying to help a 10-year-old girl also caught in the strong current.

On Friday, his friends at Lathrop Intermediate School raised money to help Daniel’s family pay for his funeral. By the afternoon, they had collected nearly $800 by selling 50-cent bags of popcorn and sodas. They are planning a carwash next weekend.

Daniel, the youngest of three children, was a guard on the school’s basketball team and was described as a popular student.

“He was a social butterfly,” Principal Esther Jones said.

On Monday, he had gone to the beach and was paddling back to shore on his bodyboard with fellow 12-year-old Chris Mejia, a friend since kindergarten, when he heard his friend’s 10-year-old sister calling for help. Lifeguards said Daniel headed back out.

A wave knocked the boy into the surf, and by the time lifeguards got to him after rescuing the girl, he was unconscious.

He was taken to Children’s Hospital of Orange County, where he later died of unspecified injuries.

“To us, he’s a hero,” Jones said. “He was trying to help.”

Donations for funeral expenses can be made to the Daniel Quijada Memorial Fund at Wells Fargo Bank, 2301 S. Main St., Santa Ana, CA 92707.