A device has claimed the life of a man on Christmas Day. The 33-year-old victim was looking at his electronic gadget while walking in the Sunset Cliffs Park in San Diego, California, not taking a selfie as most cases in the past were.
Associated Press reports that the lifeguards has not yet located the gadget which possibly is a mobile phone or camera. The victim was declared dead at the scene, although passersby attempted to perform CPR on him before authorities arrived.
Newsday identifies the victim as Joshua Burwell of Sheridan, Indiana, who was visiting southern California when he fell down 60 feet to his death on rocks from a beach cliff. Sharyle Burwell, the mother of the victim, says in a Facebook post that Joshua died while taking photos. Joshua left behind a son, according to Sharyle.
San Diego lifeguard Bill Bender recounts, "Witnesses stated seeing someone distracted by an electronic device and he just fell over the edge ... (He) wasn't watching where he was walking, he was looking down at the device in his hands."
After Burwell fell, three people heard his cries for hell. One of the three who went down the rocks to rescue and victim, 13-year-old Thor Wilink, recalls someone shouting, "Help, please God, save me." Someone produced a rope, and because Wilink goes to Yosemite and is familiar with going down cliffs, he grabbed the rope, went down the cliffs and was starting to untangle it when the fire crew arrived.
Wilink says a woman and two surfers performed CPR on Burwell but failed to revive him.