Body pulled from South Valley canal after report of car in water, Sheriff’s Office says

A body was pulled from a canal downstream from where deputies were investigating a report of a car in the water, the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office reported Friday night.

Deputies were called to a stretch of the Friant-Kern Canal “earlier this evening,” according to an 8:13 p.m. news release from the Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff’s Dive Team also responded “and later recovered a body downstream.”

The victim was identified Sunday night as 37-year-old Robert Lea from Woodlake, with the incident confirmed as a car accident.

The 152-mile Friant-Kern Canal runs from Friant in Fresno County to the Kern River in Bakersfield and is part of the federal Central Valley Project.

This story was originally published November 19, 2021 at 9:12 PM.