The county medical examiner’s office has released the name of a man recovered from a drainage channel who may have gotten stuck in the mud and fell victim to the rising tide officials said.
The medical examiner’s office says 37-year-old Titus Martin was found in the San Diego River near Ocean Beach Thursday, just east of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard.
Lifeguards and police recovered Martin’s body and confirmed his death at the scene. The medical examiner’s office attributes his death to drowning.
Martin, dressed in camouflage pants, was spotted in the drainage channel south of Sunset Cliffs Bridge and north of the Ocean Beach bike path.
Authorities used a yellow raft to reach the body and pulled Martin to shore around 9:45 a.m.
Lifeguards said they believed the man may have wandered down into the flood control channel and may have gotten stuck in extremely thick mud.
“The muck that’s there is very hard to walk through,” said SDPD Lt. Natalie Stone. “It almost becomes like a quick sand.”
There were no obvious signs of trauma officials said.
No one fitting the man's description has been reported missing police said.
What authorities do know is it doesn't appear the man's body had been out here very long and that, likely, he lost his life during the most recent high tide.
