Man Dies after Drowning at Cerritos Park Lake

Sheriff's homicide detectives have concluded there does not appear to be evidence of foul play in the death of a man who drowned in a lake at a Cerritos Park, a deputy said.

The man who was seen slipping under the surface of the man-made lake at Cerritos Regional Park died at a hospital after being pulled from the water by divers, said Deputy Tina Schrader of the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau.

Two dive teams were dispatched to the park in the 19700 block of Bloomfield Avenue after witnesses saw the victim go under at about 6:25 p.m. Sunday, said Los Angeles County Fire Department supervising dispatcher Cheryl Sims.

The victim's lifeless body was recovered from the lake about 7:45 p.m., a news photographer at the scene said.

The man, who was about 40 years old, was at the park with family members, a county fire department battalion chief told the photographer.

Ambulance workers, sheriff's deputies and firefighters tried unsuccessfully to locate the man before the dive teams arrived, the chief said.

The man was in full cardiac arrest when he was taken to a hospital by firefighters, he said.

He was pronounced dead at the hospital, Schrader said.

--City News Service