{"id":243496,"date":"2026-03-30T15:23:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T15:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/243496\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T15:23:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T15:23:06","slug":"la-county-deputy-dies-during-baker-to-vegas-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/243496\/","title":{"rendered":"LA County Deputy Dies During Baker to Vegas Race"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Levi Vargas, a 30-year-old San Dimas Sheriff\u2019s Deputy, suffered a medical emergency during the annual race <\/p>\n<p>A Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Deputy died after suffering a medical emergency during the Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay, an annual law enforcement race through the desert, the department announced early Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Levi Vargas, a 30-year-old San Dimas Sheriff\u2019s Deputy with 13 years of service, was among the dozens of law enforcement officials who participated in the annual competition in record-breaking heat when he collapsed, the LASD announced in a statement. Police departments and sheriff\u2019s departments send their most elite athletes to run the challenge, which began Saturday in Nevada, just north of the town of Baker, and ended 120 miles later by the Las Vegas Strip.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department is shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our San Dimas Sheriff\u2019s Deputy who passed away after suffering a medical emergency while participating in the 2026 Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay race.<\/p>\n<p>The Deputy was among\u2026 <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/El9ppUZcmL\">pic.twitter.com\/El9ppUZcmL<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 LA County Sheriffs (@LASDHQ) <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LASDHQ\/status\/2038178144709140949?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 29, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>His death prompted condolences from across the country. \u201cHe was known among his colleagues and friends for his professionalism, commitment, and compassion to our communities,\u201d the Sheriff\u2019s Department said in a statement. \u201cHis loss is deeply felt across our Department, and he will be greatly missed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and colleagues during this incredibly difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Levi Vargas, a 30-year-old San Dimas Sheriff\u2019s Deputy, suffered a medical emergency during the annual race A Los&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[3132,339,48,52,51,12833,47,50,49,2211,89508,39578],"class_list":["post-243496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-baker","tag-death","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lasd","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-race","tag-san-dimas","tag-vegas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}