{"id":553934,"date":"2026-03-30T09:28:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T09:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/553934\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T09:28:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T09:28:22","slug":"la-county-sheriffs-deputy-dies-after-medical-emergency-during-relay-race-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/553934\/","title":{"rendered":"LA county sheriff\u2019s deputy dies after medical emergency during relay race | California"},"content":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles<\/a> county sheriff\u2019s deputy Levi Vargas died<\/a> on Saturday after a medical emergency while participating in an annual relay race through the Mojave desert. He was 30 years old.<\/p>\n

Vargas had been competing at the Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup relay race, which follows a 120-mile (193km) course from Baker, California, to Las Vegas, Nevada, through the Mojave desert. Several law enforcement agencies send 20-runner teams<\/a> annually to compete in the race.<\/p>\n

States across the US south-west, including California<\/a> and Nevada, have shattered heat records<\/a> this March.<\/p>\n

The sheriff\u2019s department did not immediately disclose the cause of Vargas\u2019s death. He received emergency medical care before dying from his injuries, the department said.<\/p>\n

Vargas joined the department in 2015, serving most recently in the city of San Dimas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe extend our heartfelt condolences to the Deputy\u2019s family, friends, and colleagues during this incredibly difficult time,\u201d the department wrote in a message on X. \u201cThe loss of our beloved Deputy, a 13-year veteran, is felt across the entire LASD family. We ask our community to join us in honoring our Deputy\u2019s service and keeping his loved ones in your thoughts during this challenging time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Record-breaking heat<\/a> across the south-west has prompted the National Weather Service to issue health advisories in numerous cities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles county sheriff\u2019s deputy Levi Vargas died on Saturday after a medical emergency while participating in an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-553934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}