{"id":402934,"date":"2026-07-18T00:59:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T00:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/402934\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T00:59:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T00:59:18","slug":"kern-county-deputies-recover-man-found-face-down-in-river-mother-warns-of-currents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/402934\/","title":{"rendered":"Kern County deputies recover man found face down in river, mother warns of currents"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAKERSFIELD, Calif (KBAK\/KBFX) A man who went tubing on the Kern River was found dead Friday morning after witnesses saw him slip beneath the water near Hart Park, prompting renewed warnings from officials and a grieving mother about the river\u2019s hidden dangers.<\/p>\n

The Kern County Sheriff\u2019s Office said search and rescue personnel responded Thursday at about 5:15 p.m. to a report of a man floating face down in the river.<\/p>\n

Witness Allen Castillo said the man was part of a group of three tubing down the river when they appeared to fall off.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was three guys they were coming down the river on a tube and looks like they had fell off the tube. They were right in front of us. And right when they were right in front of us one of the guys went under. He was under for maybe three seconds. Came back up for like another second and then he went back down,\u201d Castillo said.<\/p>\n

\"Kern<\/p>\n

Kern County deputies recover man found face down in river, mother warns of currents (KBAK\/KBFX)<\/p>\n

The sheriff\u2019s office said the man\u2019s body was found Friday morning.<\/p>\n

Maria James Officer, identified as the mother of the drowning victim, urged others to stay out of the river, warning that conditions can be deceptive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like you need to stay out of this river. You need to stay out of it. It looks like its shallow but it\u2019s not. The current starts to move and once it starts you can\u2019t control it. It just takes you and you can\u2019t do anything about it and then you\u2019re gone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Officer said her son was not a strong swimmer and questioned why he was brought to the river.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know what he wasn\u2019t a good swimmer. And I told the guy that took him here. I’m like, first of all even if he was a good swimmer why would you into the Kern River?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

KCSO search and rescue personnel said the Kern River is dangerous even in areas that may appear calmer than stretches closer to the canyon. <\/p>\n

Robert Fallon of KCSO Search and Rescue said, \u201cThe Kern River is dangerous everywhere. It\u2019s just that type of river.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"{p}Kern<\/p>\n

Kern County deputies recover man found face down in river, mother warns of currents (KBFX) <\/p>\n

Fallon said hazards beneath the surface can trap people, including \u201cthe strainers, trees, rocks, whatever is in the river,\u201d and warned that once someone is caught, escape can be extremely difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever is in the river can catch people up and they get trapped. And they end up drowning and once you\u2019re trapped it\u2019s almost impossible to get out of that,\u201d Fallon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s what’s under the river that can entrap you and cause you to drown,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"Kern<\/p>\n

Kern County deputies recover man found face down in river, mother warns of currents (KBAK\/KBFX)<\/p>\n

KCSO search and rescue personnel also described the Kern River as one of the most dangerous rivers in America and said it needs to be respected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif (KBAK\/KBFX) A man who went tubing on the Kern River was found dead Friday morning after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-402934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402934","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=402934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}