Authorities today released the name of a 40-year-old man who died after he, three other people and a dog became trapped in a “low head dam” in the Los Angeles River in Long Beach.
Khrystopher Lemus of Long Beach died around 3:15 p.m. Sunday, according to the county Medical Examiner’s office.
Long Beach Fire Department crews rescued an adult and a 1-year-old child from the river near Anaheim Street and took them to a trauma center for treatment. A second child was also in the water but was not injured.
Lemus and the dog did not survive.
Low head dams are structures built across rivers or streams to help water flow continuously over the crest from bank to bank, according to theAmerican Society of Civil Engineers.
They create dangerous turbulent currents and are often referred to as “drowning machines.”