Body found in canal west of Fresno. Sheriff’s investigation closes road off Shaw Avenue

The body of a dead man was discovered Tuesday morning in a canal off Barstow Avenue west of Fresno.

The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office was called to Barstow and Westlawn avenues around 8 a.m. after workers discovered what appeared to be a body while cleaning trash from a grate in the canal, sheriff’s office spokesman Tony Botti said.

Members of the sheriff office’s dive team pulled the body from the canal and sent it to the county coroner’s office for identification and cause of death determination, Botti said.

It was not immediately clear how he ended up in the canal, Botti said.

Deputies and detectives were canvasing upstream looking for clothing or evidence that could determine where the man may have entered the canal.

A section of Westlawn Avenue from Shaw Avenue to Barstow was blocked for the investigataion.

The sheriff’s office will also be checking its missing person reports once an identification has been made, Botti said.

While it is too early to know if this case was the result of an accident, the sheriff’s office took the opportunity to remind residents that the canals and canal banks are dangerous.

One should take caution while walking along the canals and never enter into the water.

“It’s definitely a problem we deal with every summer when the canals are running,” Botti said.

Early this summer, a man’s body was found floating in a canal in central Fresno. That was at least the third case since June in which someone was pulled from a canal within the Fresno city limits.

This story was originally published July 19, 2022 at 1:30 PM.