Off-duty Texas Firefighter Drowns Saving Teen

GALVESTON – A Houston woman and a Kennard volunteer firefighter drowned over Memorial Day weekend in the Gulf of Mexico, the firefighter while saving a 15-year-old girl, the Galveston Beach Patrol said.

Shanita Riley, 43, was pronounced dead Sunday after being taken to the University of Texas Medical Branch. The body of Stephen Espedal, 37, was discovered Monday morning by a fisherman, Beach Patrol Chief Peter Davis said.

Both drownings were reported within minutes of each other on  Sunday, Davis said. Both were reported close to 8:40 p.m.

Espedal had been camping with friends at San Luis pass, an area where swimming is illegal and signs are posted warning that the area is too dangerous for swimming. Davis said the Beach Patrol and volunteers had been ordering people out of the water at San Luis Pass all day Sunday, but the patrols end after nightfall.

A 15-year-old girl waded into the water in near darkness at the most dangerous spot, where the currents flowing under the San Luis Bridge meet the Gulf of Mexico, Davis said. He said she walked past a no-swimming sign to enter the water at spot where the current would have pushed her into the Gulf.

Davis said the bottom changes so quickly that a person wading knee deep can take a single step into water over their head.

The girl screamed for help and a number of people scrambled into the water to help her, but only Espedal was able to reach her. He put the teenager on his back, but at some point realized that they were not  going to be able to make it back to shore, Davis said.

"I think he realized they were both going to drown and he ended up throwing her to shallow water," Davis said. "He really sacrificed himself to save that girl."

The girl was able to get to a sand bar, but Espedal disappeared. A fisherman discovered his body the next day at 7:55 a.m. about 20 yards from where he was last seen.

Riley was swimming with relatives near 78th Street when she was reported missing, Davis said. A bystander found her in the water and pulled her to shore. An off-duty Galveston police officer performed CPR until life guards arrived.

Davis said life guards moved about 4,900 swimmers from dangerous areas in one of the busiest weekends of the year.  An estimated 400,000 to 500,000 people visited the beach over the weekend.

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