Graduate Student Dies After Pool Accident

A 26-year-old UC Davis graduate student died this weekend, several days after an alcohol-related drowning accident, Yolo County officials said.

Steven D. Cannata died Saturday of complications from a swimming accident, said Mary Koompin-Williams, Yolo County supervising deputy coroner.

Cannata and some friends had been drinking earlier in the day, then played a game in a hot tub “of who could hold their breath longer,” Koompin-Williams said. Cannata then got into the swimming pool at the Davis apartment complex.

“They thought at first he was still playing the game but then realized he was under too long,” she said.

Cannata, originally from San Marino, was in his third year of a four-year joint graduate program to earn a law degree and a master’s degree in business administration.