L.A. Man in Wednesday’s Canoeing Incident on Cedar Lake Dies in Loma Linda Hospital

Big Bear Lake, CA — Yesterday afternoon’s police activity, including helicopters, over Cedar Lake Camp in western Big Bear Lake was prompted by a canoe that had capsized at about 1:30pm. Two men had been in the vessel and one, 29-year-old Lashun Curtis Robertson of Los Angeles, at the camp for a retreat with a group from Los Angeles Mission, sank about 15 feet under the water, though was rescued by a Sheriff’s Department team diver in the 3pm hour, who located him about 30 feet from the dock in the frigid water. Robertson was airlifted to Loma Linda University Medical Center for medical treatment where, per a report from the San Bernardino County Coroner’s Office this morning, he was pronounced dead at 6:16pm on May 19. Per reports from both the Big Bear Sheriff’s Station and the Coroner’s Office, Robertson did not know how to swim, and yet was not wearing a life jacket while canoeing.
For what it’s worth, National Safe Boating Week launches this Saturday, May 22. As data from the U.S. Coast Guard suggests that 90 percent of drowning victims in recreational boating accidents were not wearing a life jacket, the National Safe Boating Council reminds those recreating on the water to wear a life jacket at all times.