Simone WilsonUpdate: The coroner has determined that the man drowned accidentally. His identity is still unknown. Originally posted on Nov. 22 at 11:12 a.m.
The Venice canals have seen sewage overflows, rotten stoppages, messy floods and swarms of mosquitoes over their century of community-enraging existence. But now that the Italy-inspired tourist attraction (installed by erratic millionaire Abbott Abbot Kinney in 1905) has been reduced to 1.5 square miles of prime real estate owned by the nation's elite, we're lucky to see even a duck out of line.
Saturday morning, however, a dark, grisly shadow passed through for old time's sake: the corpse of a thirtysomething male in a black jogging suit.
One horrified resident called 911 at 8:25 a.m. after spotting the body as it floated in the Grand Canal just south of Venice Boulevard.
When firefighters arrived, they decided it best to call in L.A. County lifeguards for the job; from there, a rescue surfboard was used to paddle the dead body to “shore.”
The victim's cause of death has yet to be determined by the coroner, and his identity has not been revealed by the LAPD.
With reporting from City News Service.
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