UPDATE 10/13/2023:
The body of a man who heroically saved a mother and her daughter after their car crashed into the San Joaquin River was recovered this week. Eddie Gerardo Cervantes Lora, 41, has been identified by the San Joaquin County coroner.
“His immediate response to jump in to help another shows the kind of person that I assume he was, and we’re just very sorry today,” said spokesperson for the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office Heather Brent.
Witnesses to the tragic event said that they spotted the mother and her daughter’s SUV sinking into the river before they jumped in to save the child. Before she could be rescued, the woman went under the water, and a short time later, washed up on shore alive but badly injured. Cervantes Lora did not resurface. Over 20 loved ones of Cervantes Lora searched for his body.
Cervantes Lora’s relatives were not ready to have an interview but did confirm that they set up a GoFundMe for a funeral and to help support his grieving family.
We are keeping Cervante Lora’s family in our thoughts and prayers as they grieve the loss of a heroic man.
Photo credits: SOUTH SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY FIRE AUTHORITY
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
A mother and five-year-old girl were rescued from the San Joaquin River on Tuesday, after their car “traveled down an embankment, struck a tree, and entered the water”.
Both survived the accident. The child is unharmed, while the mother received significant injuries.
Combined efforts from nearby witnesses and the San Joaquin County Fire Authority rescued the child quickly, but after a volunteering witness jumped into the river to save the mother, reports say that the man’s head went below the water and he did not return to shore.
While the fire department have not ruled out the possibility that the man “walked away from the scene”, searches are ongoing to locate him.
Sources:
https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/body-san-joaquin-river-good-samaritan-found/
https://www.kcra.com/article/eddie-gerardo-topollo-cervantes-lora-san-joaquin-river/45525072#
https://www.gofundme.com/f/remembering-eddie-gerardo-topollo-cervanteslora
