Crime & Safety

Man Drowns While Mowing Lawn in RSM

A "horrible accident" strikes a gardener working near a pool.

By Martin Henderson, originally posted at 11:02 p.m.

Tragedy struck in Rancho Santa Margarita on Friday morning when a gardener working on a Robinson Ranch property drowned. 

The 24-year-old man, whose name wasn't released pending notification of his family, was mowing a backyard on Larkgrove Circle. 

According to Lt. Steve Gil of the Orange County Sheriff's Department, the man had his back to the swimming pool on the site.

"He was operating the lawnmower and got too close to the pool and fell into the water in the deep end," Gil said. "He couldn't swim." 

The victim's uncle was also at the home but working on a different section of the property. He went to check on his nephew when the job should have been completed and discovered the man, 12 years his junior, face-down in the water. He pulled him to the edge of the pool but could not pull him from the water.

The uncle made a 9-1-1 call at 9:03 a.m., and deputies Kevin Geary and Katherina Luna arrived seven minutes later to the 32700 block of Larkgrove, a street tucked deep in the labyrinth of Robinson Ranch. They performed CPR until Orange County Fire Authority medics arrived from Station 18. 

The man was taken to Mission Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The uncle was also taken to the hospital after having difficulty breathing, the lieutenant said.

"There's no indication that if the deputies were on the scene sooner that it would have made a difference," Gil said. "He was in the water for quite a while and out of view.

"It was just a horrible accident."


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