Fresno County Sheriff's Deputies tell Action News the 19-year-old man was visiting the park Sunday with family and friends. They say he did not know how to swim-and was underwater for several minutes
Fresno County Sheriff's Deputies say the Madera man went into the water with his two teenage cousins. The 19-year-old, as well as his 15-year-old cousin did not know how to swim.
When both startling struggling, the third family member was only able to help his younger brother. But, when he went back for his cousin the 19-year-old was already underwater.
"It looked like he had been underwater for seven minutes by the time they pulled him out," Sgt. Christopher Torres said.
Several people at the park tried to help the group by jumping into the water themselves.
"At the moment I was kinda scared cause we're like, where's the body, where's the body and the another person, I don't know if he saw him underwater, but that's when we saw the body and called 911," Lupe Dominguez said.
Once ashore, other park goers started performing CPR.
Gladys Angulo of Fresno is training to become a nurse. She and others worked on the man for several minutes before medics arrived. "So, we kept doing that the whole time, and all that stuff started coming out. We were just trying to keep everything draining."
A helicopter later transported the man to Community Regional Medical Center. His condition at this hour is unknown.
