Girl rescued off Crescent Bay

Mike Swanson

A construction worker from Capistrano Beach retrieved and

resuscitated a 4-year-old girl after a large wave knocked her and her

family from a rock into the ocean Wednesday.

Patricia Guadalupe, 26, from Henderson, Nev., and her 6-year-old

daughter, Brittnee, struggled to the sand at the southern end of

Crescent Bay Beach before the undertow took them, but the surf swept

her 4-year-old Serena seaward.

Twenty-six-year-old Ben Bonin, doing construction on a nearby

home, hurried from his work site on Cliff Drive to the water, where

he pulled an unconscious Serena ashore and administered CPR.

“She was blue as can be and wasn’t breathing,” Bonin said. “It

probably took about two or three minutes before she started coughing

up water and crying before I knew she was alive.”

Bonin said he saw three people in the water by a bunch of rocks

and asked his co-worker if they looked like they were in trouble.

When he looked again, he saw two on the shore and one waving for help

as 4- to 5-foot swells swept in.

“At that point, I just kicked it into high gear and sprinted down

there as fast as I could,” he said.

Patricia Guadalupe said she saw a guy way up on the hill on the

second story of the house that Bonin was working on. She waved

frantically to get his attention.

“I swear he must have had wings,” she said. “It was a long way

down, and I couldn’t see any path for him to go on, but there he was.

... It was like he was some kind of angel.”

After a tumultuous Wednesday that included a drug-induced coma at

Children’s Hospital of Orange County at Mission, Serena’s health was

almost fully restored by noon Thursday.

“They took all the tubes out today,” her mother said, “and she’s

back to watching videos and playing with her toys.”

Patricia Guadalupe said the doctors want to observe her for a

couple more days to be sure she doesn’t suffer any complications,

particularly pneumonia.

Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Guy Miller, who responded to a call that

a diver was in distress at Crescent Bay Beach at 10:37 a.m., shortly

after Bonin resuscitated Serena, said he was happy to shake the

rescuer’s hand on Thursday.

“I spoke with her doctor [Wednesday],” Miller said, “and he said

she would not have survived if she wasn’t treated so quickly. This

guy really did an amazing thing.”

Patricia Guadalupe said she had been watching the surf and the

rocks for about 20 to 25 minutes before deciding it was safe to take

her daughters out there to search for seashells. After one smaller

wave startled them a bit, a larger one followed and knocked them into

the ocean. Waves were under yellow-flag, or cautionary conditions.

“I got a foothold pretty quick and grabbed Serena with my left

hand, Brittnee in my right,” she said. “I tossed Brittnee to the

shore, then a wave came and knocked me down and Serena out of my

arms.”

When Bonin arrived, Patricia Guadalupe pointed him in the

direction of where Serena was, but he couldn’t see anybody.

“He crashed right through those waves without any fear whatsoever,

clothes on and everything, and he came back with my daughter,”

Patricia Guadalupe said.

Bonin said he had never used CPR before, but that he’d seen it a

million times on TV, so he had the general idea of what he was

supposed to do, citing “ER” and “friends who know CPR” as examples of

his inspiration. After the authorities and paramedics arrived, Bonin

said he stayed for a while to answer some questions, then went home,

changed out of his wet clothes and went back to work.

“When I got back to work, I sat and ate my lunch thinking, ‘What

just happened?’” he said.