SAN DIEGO — A 24-year-old man who drowned in Mission Beach Sunday morning has been identified as Kevin Dignan. According to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office, he lived in Austin and was visiting friends in San Diego.
At about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, Dignan and a friend waded into the water near Santa Rita Place, and dove in. After this point, Dignan never resurfaced. The group began searching for him and found Dignan lying on the sand unresponsive a few yards away from where he had entered the water.
They called 911 and when first responders arrived, they began CPR and chest compressions, but pronounced Dignan dead at the scene at 3:03 a.m.
According to the Medical Examiner, the cause of death was drowning due to a cervical spine fracture caused by blunt force injury to the head and neck.
“You know swimming at night is another challenge in itself. You know, you can’t see the waves coming in, you can’t see the rip currents,” said Lt. Jacob Magness with San Diego Lifeguards. “We’ve got large surf, rip currents, the bottom of the ocean floor is not like a swimming pool. It’s not flat so you have deep spots and shallow spots, and you can’t see where those are.”
The drowning comes less than two months after 25-year-old Oakland firefighter Caeden Laffen drowned in Pacific Beach after entering the water near Grand Avenue at about 2:00 a.m., his body recovered two-hundred yards on the north side of the Crystal Pier. He was in town with family and friends for the Firefighter Olympic Games.
Lt. Magness told CBS 8 me lifeguards are on duty this time of year from 9:00 a.m. until the sun goes down, which is currently 8:00 p.m. After that, they’re not actively observing the water, which makes nighttime swimming even more dangerous.
“You can become very disoriented, lose track of where the shoreline is, and you know being able to see your way back to the beach is difficult,” said Lt. Magness.
According to the Medical Examiner, Dignan’s family has been notified.
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