Residents on the 300 block of Long Point in Spinnaker Bay discovered the woman at about 11 p.m. Sunday swimming in the bay. They tried to pull her up, But she swam underneath a dock and came up floating facedown.

Long Beach Fire Department paramedics were able to get the victim's pulse back and her blood temperature up, spokesman Will Nash said. The woman, whose identity has not been released, was transported to Community Hospital, where she was in very critical condition and on a ventilator, he said.

Initially, there were reports that a friend of the victim was possibly in the water. Authorities searched the area for more than an hour, until they discovered that the second person had safely returned home.

Neighbors said the woman was at an Easter party on a boat docked near the 300 block of Long Point when she reportedly left the party, went to a stranger's house nearby, and asked him for a ride home.

Bob Turansick, 69, was in bed with his wife, Pat, when he heard his doorbell ring at 11 p.m.

He crept downstairs, peered through the peephole and saw a young, blond woman pacing frantically on his doorstep. Still in his night clothes, Turansick cracked the door slightly.

"She seemed very much intoxicated," he said.

The woman told him that her female friend was "drunker than she was" and was with men on a boat. She said she wanted to leave, but her friend wanted to stay. She asked Turansick for a ride home.

"I didn't know what I was going to do," he said.

Turansick told the woman to wait on the porch and went upstairs to change, but when he returned, she was gone.

Turansick and his wife went looking for the woman and soon heard splashing in the bay about 100 feet from their home.

The woman may have climbed over a locked gated to get near the water. They still don't know if she jumped or fell in.

"She was swimming all the way across the bay near (boat) slip 23 when we saw her," he said. "She was babbling incoherently, like she was in shock."

Turansick ran for a flashlight and cell phone.

By the time he got back, neighbor Tim Nicholson came with a key to get down to the dock.

The woman, still in her clothes, was desperately trying to find something to hold on to or a way to climb up. They tried to pull her up, but she swam underneath the dock, Nicholson said. She tried to come up for air between the dock and a boat, but the space was too small for her head, he said.

"All we could see were her hands poking out," Nicholson said.

"I think that's what did her in," Turansick said.

The woman tried to swim back under the dock toward the sea wall, but came up floating facedown.

Turansick jumped in the water after her, and with the help of his wife and Nicholson, was able to push her up.

She wasn't breathing when they laid her on the dock, they said. Paramedics arrived soon after.

Turansick couldn't get out of the water himself after he jumped in, and had to wait for paramedics to pull him out.

He said divers later found her cigarettes and wallet floating in the water.

Standing on the boat where the party occurred, a man named Eric Han said he owns the boat and rents out the adjacent home to his younger brother, Hai Han, who is in his 30s.

Han said his brother, who was not home Monday, did have an Easter party and invited the victim's friend, whom he knew. The victim got upset and left the party when her friend told her she wanted to stay, Eric Han's brother told him.

Han, who lives near Monrovia, said he doesn't allow his brother to use the boat and came down to check it after he found out about the incident.

Turansick said he stills harbors some guilt over what happened.

"It took me a while to fall asleep," he said. "I kept thinking, what if I did this, what if I did that."

He wondered if he should have let the woman come into his home or if he could have been faster getting a key for the gate. But it all happened so fast, he said.

"I just pray she pulls out of it."

Submitted on 03/25/2008

Submitted by: Walter
Reference: Long Beach Press-Telegram, 3/25/2008

Copyright © 2008 DarwinAwards.com

Chip said:
Definitely Keep: Honorable Mention
Walter, thanks for the story. Too bad that Turansick has guilt feelings. Nothing you can do when someone wants to swim across a bay, fully dressed, at night.

Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: Honorable Mention
I guess this just proves that enough alcohol can make you do just about anything. Thanks, Walter!

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