Junior lifeguard collapses, dies

Torus Tammer

Chanan Remington was eager to join the Huntington Beach Junior Lifeguard

Program. She planned to try out for a program designed for strong

swimmers. The 14-year-old from Brawley in Imperial Valley was looking

forward to spending a summer in Surf City with her grandparents and

friends.

But her summer ended too early.

The teen was taking part in a two-mile run Tuesday morning as part of the

lifeguard program when she collapsed on the shore. She was later

pronounced dead at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach.

Deputy supervising coroner Rod Thomas said the cause of death may not be

known for two or three months, pending tests.

“To see a mother lose her child is the type of thing you don’t want to be

around,” said David Simcox, junior lifeguard program director and a close

friend of the Remington family. “You can’t justify why a 14-year-old

would be taken.”

Simcox, who spent Tuesday with the Remingtons, said the death has

devastated them, particularly Chanan’s younger brother and sister. The

family has been visiting Huntington Beach since Saturday.

Chanan “could see nothing but beautiful things in her family,” Simcox

said.

She was a member of the Brawley swim team and had just graduated from

eighth grade. The straight-A student, Simcox said, wanted to be a

veterinarian when she grew up.

Simcox said Chanan was excited to join the junior lifeguard program. She

was trying out for the safety aid program designed for the better

swimmers.

“Her parents were very proud of her,” Simcox said.

Grief counselors were on hand Wednesday to help the members and

instructors in the junior lifeguard program talk about the death. A

counselor also talked with teens and instructors just hours after the

incident.

This is the first time someone has died in the junior lifeguard program

since it began in 1963, said Marine Safety Division Chief Steve Seim. The

program focuses on teaching marine safety and lifesaving techniques,

“I’m proud of my staff because they did everything they could have

possibly done,” Seim said Tuesday. “But what happened today -- it’s not

normal -- it’s not right, and it’s not fair.”

The 120 members junior in the lifeguard program started the day Tuesday

with warmups and stretching exercises at 8 a.m. By 9 a.m., they were all

gathered by the Huntington Beach Pier for the run, traveling south along

the water’s edge.

It was some 10 minutes later that something seemed awry. Onlooker Daniel

Cutler, 15, said Chanan, not far from one of the instructors, started to

fall behind the group.

“I was watching her, running along the sand by the water, and although

she wasn’t going too fast, she was really lagging,” said Daniel, a member

of the Seal Beach junior lifeguard program who was spending time with a

friend. “Suddenly, she started looking kind of shaky and then just fell.

She was not moving.”

Daniel said he ran to the face-down girl, turned her over and dragged her

away from the tide. He yelled for help from an instructor.

Seconds later, junior lifeguard instructor Jacque Swearingen reached the

scene. Swearingen, who was running with the last third of the group, said

she saw the girl face down in the sand with someone standing next to her

yelling for assistance.

“I got there, and she was gasping for air, which is not a good sign -- so

I began clearing her airway” Swearingen said.

She instructed Daniel, who was near her, to wave the buoy at the shore,

signifying a Code 3 for help. Soon fellow guard Matt Whitmore and Marine

Safety Officer Todd Bartlett arrived. Whitmore was able to take over from

Swearingen and administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation until Bartlett

arrived and began providing oxygen to the teen.

Paramedics arrived and continued efforts to stabilize her pulse, which

became so faint that the medical equipment was unable to detect it,

officials said.

The teen was taken to Hoag Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead

at 10:22 a.m.