BY ELIZABETH WILSON AND ESTHER QUINTANILLA

CV Journalism Collaborative

A 13-year-old boy drowned over the weekend in what marked the third water death of the year in Merced County.

Fidel Farias, from Modesto, was swimming with family members at the Merced River when a current swept him under.

Divers from the Merced County Sheriff’s Office responded to Cressey Bridge Saturday at 7:30 p.m. A remote vehicle located Farias at 18 feet underwater, and divers recovered his body. In the days following, the agency urged the public to be careful when deciding to swim in the river.

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“People need to exercise caution if they are going to swim in our waterways here in Merced County,” said Deputy Alexandra Garcia, the agency’s spokesperson, who’s also been a diver on the team for the past four years. “If you don’t know how to swim, don’t get in the water. But if you do choose to swim, wear a life jacket.”

The boy’s mother, Guadalupe Ruiz, remembers her son as a cheerful and vibrant person, full of big dreams for his future. Fidel was the second oldest out of his five siblings. He took on a protector role for his siblings, Ruiz said, and wanted to give back to others.

“He would say, ‘Mom, I want to be an important person,’” Ruiz, a Modesto resident, said in Spanish. “And he would say, “I’m going to buy you your house.’”

The grief is heavy for their family as they recall memories with Fidel and look at where he used to sit, Ruiz said. Community members posted their condolences on social media.

“A lot of people come and tell me, ‘Everything’s going to be OK,’ but they don’t know my pain. They don’t know what I’m feeling,” Ruiz said.

It was Friday when Fidel went to his dad’s house in Merced, Ruiz said. The next day, the pair went to the river with two of his siblings. To her knowledge, that was the boy’s first time at the river. Ruiz was not with them.

Fidel was swimming before he started to struggle and was swept away by the current, according to a statement from the Merced County Sheriff’s Office. Witnesses saw him go underwater, but he didn’t resurface. The incident remains under investigation.

The Merced River is known to have rapid currents that have taken people’s lives annually. Drownings often happen during the summer when more people are swimming in the river, Garcia said. A man died in the river last July after struggling in the water. Four days before Fidel drowned, officials rescued four people in the river after their raft got stuck.

Saturday’s drowning was the third in the county this year. In January, Lupita Ontiveros was riding a dune buggy when it crashed in the Delta Mendota near Gustine. Her body was recovered weeks later. In February, 70-year-old Richard Daly planned to float on a raft in the Merced River and has been missing since.

For now, Ruiz doesn’t plan on going to the river anytime in the future. The family is gathering funds for the funeral service next week.

“I want (people) to remember him as the cheerful boy he was, with that joy he had,” Ruiz said. “He was a very loud boy. He would shout. And that’s how I want (people) to remember him: as a cheerful boy, a boy who dreamed, a boy who had big goals.”