2 students found inner-tubing in Santa Ana riverbed

Police officers arrived at the riverbed near the Memory overpass after calls of a possible drowning, but the students were able to get out of the river themselves. Photo by Bonnie Cash

Two Chapman students were taken to the UC Irvine Medical Center at 12:49 a.m. Jan. 21 after highway patrol and police officers received a report of a possible drowning in the Santa Ana riverbed in Orange, Lt. Fred Lopez, Orange Police Department’s public information officer, said in a statement.

Lopez said that officers found a 20-year-old woman between the 22 Freeway and the Memory overpass, near the The Outlets at Orange. The woman told officers that she had been inner-tubing in the river with a 22-year-old male, who officers located north of the overpass a few minutes later.

The students were found near the 22 Freeway and Memory overpass.

Lopez said that although multiple fire units and an Orange County Sheriff’s Department helicopter were sent to the scene in case a water rescue was neccessary, both students were able to get out of the water with no assistance.

The male student had been drinking, Lopez said, but was not intoxicated. He suffered abrasions on his body and had swallowed a “significant amount of water.” He was transported to UC Irvine Medical Center because he was having difficulty breathing.

The female student had not consumed any alcohol and did not require any medical attention, but rode in the ambulance with the male student. Both students reside in Panther Village, and Public Safety was informed of the incident. The students’ names were not released.

After reports of the incident began circulating on social media, junior public relations and advertising major Tommy Nelson noticed that members of a private Facebook group called Orange Buzz were making comments about the two students involved.

“I saw the video (of the incident) on Orange Buzz, and I was like, here we go again with the ‘All Chapman students are annoying and rude’ typical comments,” Nelson said.“But on the Facebook post, I saw numerous individuals saying that those kids should have died, and it really struck a nerve with me.”

Nelson then posted in the group criticizing members for their comments. As of Jan. 29, the post had 466 reactions and 96 comments from members of the group.

“The mere fact that there are people (whether you truly meant it or not) who said they wish Chapman students were dead is immensely unnerving,” Nelson wrote in his post on the page. “To see and read some of the rather awful backlash that we, as an entire student body, get based off of the actions of a mere few is grossly unfair.”

Members of the page who commented on the original post about the incident did not immediately respond to request for comment from The Panther.

Malvica Sawhney contributed to this report.