Seth De La Riva helped to save Jason Flores from drowning, Bodega Bay, California, August 10, 1997. Flores, 21, was wading in the Pacific Ocean off a state beach when a strong current carried him farther from shore and into deeper water. He struggled against the current but tired in the cold water and waved for help. On shore, family members, including his cousin, De La Riva, 22, warehouse manager, observed Flores struggling. De La Riva immediately ran into the water, then waded and swam to Flores, who by then was nearly exhausted. He towed Flores toward shore, having to stop to rest, during which times he kept Flores’s head out of the water. A man swam to them and, laboriously fighting the current and waves, took them to wadable water. Flores was hospitalized for treatment of water in his lungs, and De La Riva was exhausted. They recovered.
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