Walkaway patient found in pool dies

A man who walked away from a psychiatric care facility last week was discovered unconscious in a Manhattan Beach swimming pool early Sunday in an apparent accidental drowning, police said.

People inside the home heard their back gate open and their dog growl early Sunday, said police Sgt. Mark Mason. They looked outside and found nothing amiss, but later heard a yell and called police.

Officers were dispatched to the home in the 1100 block of Ronda Drive near Sepulveda Boulevard about 2 a.m., Mason said.

The man, whose name was withheld pending notification of next of kin, was found unconscious and under water in the backyard swimming pool, Mason said. He was taken to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance and was pronounced dead at 3:10 a.m.

There were no signs of external trauma, Mason said, and the death was listed as an accidental drowning. Mason said there is no evidence that the man was trying to break into the home. He apparently had been a mental health patient at an unsecured Los Angeles care facility who left on his own Friday, Mason said.

-- Carla Rivera