Local Officers Rescue Man Trapped in Raging Water

A Stanton homeless man is alive today thanks to the rescue efforts of two police officers and a group of citizens, who pulled him from the raging waters of a rain-swollen flood control channel.

Los Alamitos Police Officer Chris Anderson and Cypress Police Officer Paulo Morales were joined by a group of good Samaritans in pulling the man out of the Stanton Flood Control Channel in Cypress after he had been swept about a mile downriver, said Cypress Police Sgt. Robert Cote.

It was about 1:45 p.m. today when the report came in that a local homeless man had been swept away in the channel swollen by the day’s heavy rainstorm. By the time officers had arrived, the man had been carried nearly a mile to the city’s western border.

Anderson was the first to arrive on the scene. Since last year, the Cypress and Los Alamitos Police Departments have shared radio frequencies, allowing Anderson to quickly respond to the scene.

“This was a success story,” said Los Alamitos Police Chief Todd Mattern. “Had it not bee for that (shared radio frequency) we would not have been able to respond as quickly.”

Police officers were holding on to the man who had grabbed a rock as firefighters arrived at the scene, Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Marc Stone said.

The man was hospitalized and treated for hypothermia and water intake, but he recovered quickly and has since been released, added Cote.

- City News Service contributed to this report.