Saugus drowning victim ID’d

SAUGUS – A passing jogger helped firefighters pull a man from the water who drowned at Saugus’ Breakheart Reservation Sunday evening.Steve O’Connell, spokesman for the Essex County District Attorney’s office, said 34-year-old Luis C. Espinoza, whose last known address was 10 Thatcher St., #2, Medford, drowned while trying to swim to two friends from one large rock at Pearce Lake to another about 50 to 75 yards away.”When the two friends got to the rock, they saw the victim jump in and start to swim toward them,” said O’Connell in a press release. “The victim started having trouble and went under. Espinoza’s two friends attempted to swim to him but got tired and had to turn around.”O’Connell said Espinoza went under at around 7 p.m. and after a passing jogger heard the commotion, the jogger jumped in the water to try and help firefighters pull Espinoza from the water. O’Connell said firefighters were dispatched at 7:07 p.m.Espinoza was taken to Melrose-Wakefield Hospital where O’Connell said he was pronounced dead. An autopsy was expected Monday at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Boston, said O’Connell.Saugus Provisional Fire Chief Donald McQuaid said Espinoza may have been under water for 20 to 30 minutes before he was finally pulled out.”There were people there that had been trying to rescue him when we got there,” said McQuaid. “The (firefighters) in the boat saw him under the water and attempted to grab him with a hook. The swimmer that was there jumped into the water and attempted to help with the rescue. One of our guys got out of the boat and went down, and both of them got him up and swam him over to the rock they had been swimming from.”McQuaid said firefighters performed CPR on Espinoza as they took him back across the lake to a waiting ambulance.”There’s always a chance that they can bring somebody back, but it just didn’t work out this time,” said McQuaid. “We were able to get the boat into the water very quickly and they were pointed right to the area he was in. They saw him almost right away so it was probably 10 minutes by the time they got the boat in the water and they got him into the boat. It didn’t take us long, but it’s kind of a haul to get up there.”SJ Port, spokesperson for the Department of Conservation and Recreation, said lifeguards are on duty at Pearce Lake from 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.”It sounds like this may have occurred after lifeguard hours,” said Port.Port said the DCR doesn’t encourage swimming when lifeguards are off duty, noting that signs in the area clearly post the hours.”You’re swimming at your own risk when lifeguards are not on duty,” said Port. “Our responsibility is to post that clearly which we believe we’ve done. Unfortunately with the end of summer people want to stay out later and tragedies happen.”Port said lifeguards are off duty for the rest of the season after Labor Day.On Monday afternoon, about a dozen people were at Pearce Lake sunbathing and swimming while four lifeguards were on duty. Yellow caution tape and four orange cones could be seen blocking off the northern section of the beach along with “no swimming” signs.One sign near at the beach lists several beach rules, with the first rule stating that swimming is prohibited outside designated areas.Heather Veazey of Reading was walking from the beach with her young son, Charlie, Monday afternoon. Veazey said even though the lifeguards at Breakheart are “excellent,” she always watches her son closely when at the beach.”Charlie is 3 years old, so you certainly have to keep your eyes on him,” said Veazey. “But we’ve felt pretty confident with the guards and bringing him here so it’s shocking.”Wakefield resident Christine Butler was walking past the beach Monday and said people shouldn’t swim without lifeguards.”The lifeguards are pretty good ? but if there are no lifeguards they should not be in there,” said Butler. “They have the ropes and stuff for a reason. People take things for granted. It can’t happen to them