Man tries to paddle board Escondido Creek, dies
February 14, 2019
KUSI Newsroom, San Diego
ESCONDIDO (KUSI) – A person who may have been trying to use a paddle board to ride or cross the fast-moving currents of a rain-swollen Escondido runoff channel was found dead in the culvert this afternoon.
A 911 caller reported seeing the person, believed to be male, in the concrete ditch about 4 p.m., said Jeff Murdock, spokesman for the Escondido Fire Department.
Emergency personnel found the body in the area of West Valley Parkway and Tulip Street, Murdock said. As of 5:30 p.m., firefighters were still working to safely remove the body from the culvert, the spokesman said.
SAN DIEGO-- The man who was swept away as he tried to ride a paddle board in a flooded Escondido channel this week was identified by authorities Saturday.
Crews with San Diego Fire-Rescue's Swift Water Rescue Team recovered the body of 62-year-old James Michael Miller from a the flooded Escondido Creek near Rose Street Thursday, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner.
The 911 call came in just before 4 p.m. Thursday. The caller reported a man with a paddle board being swept away by rushing water. Rescue crews quickly positioned themselves along the channel to intercept him, but when they caught up with his body near the Tulip Street overpass, it became a recovery effort.
Miller was pronounced dead after he was pulled from the channel around 6:15 p.m.
