Father Drowns While Saving Children, Including Son, In Morgan Hill Pond

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MORGAN HILL (CBS SF) – A father drowned Sunday in a pond in unincorporated Morgan Hill after saving his son and three to five other children from drowning, a spokesman for the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday.

Around 2 p.m. Sunday, sheriff's deputies received a call regarding a possible drowning in a pond at the end of Ogier Avenue.

Eight children and four adults were playing in a stream when some of the children either were pushed into the pond by the current or weren't paying attention to where they were, sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Rich Glennon said.

The stream is about knee-deep for an adult but the pond where the kids ended up is much deeper, Glennon said.

The father of one of the children jumped into the pond with jeans and work boots on and saved his son and other children, but he went under the water and did not come up.

Glennon identified the man as 35-year-old San Jose resident Saul Garcia.

One of the first deputies to get to the pond was part of a law enforcement dive team and had his diving gear with him.

He went into the water but could not find Garcia. Around 6:20 p.m., divers found Garcia in about 15 feet of water.

Juan Valdivia, who set up a GoFundMe page for Garcia's family, said, "He showed no fear going into the water and saving all six of the children's lives before the water drowned him."

The page is meant to help the family with funeral and other expenses. Garcia is survived by his wife Erica and two children.

The GoFundMe page can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/saul-garcia-and-family and had gathered more than $20,100 as of Tuesday afternoon.