AZUSA >> Authorities have formally identified a 28-year-old Azusa man who drowned while swimming in the San Gabriel River earlier this month.
Adrian Joel Garcia died following the incident, which took place just after 5:30 p.m. on July 12 in the river along the 1900 block of North San Gabriel Canyon Road, Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner Investigator Kristy McCracken said. Coroner’s records listed no hometown for Garcia, however, police previously described him as an Azusa resident.
Friends of the Garcia, who were with him at the time of the drowning, told investigators he was swimming near a spillway went underwater, Azusa police Lt. Xavier Torres said at the time. When he resurfaced, he was unconscious.
The friends pulled Garcia from the water and performed CPR until paramedics arrived to take over treatment and rush him to Huntington Hospital in Pasadena.
Garcia was pronounced dead about an hour after the incident was reported, coroner’s officials said.
Garcia’s identity was previously withheld pending notification of family.
An autopsy was pending, McCracken said.