Swept Into The Ocean, Lake County Deputy Now In Critical Condition

LAKE COUNTY - A Lake County Deputy Sheriff swept into the ocean with his 11-year-old son while visiting the Mendocino Coast on Monday remains in critical condition at a hospital in Chico.

According to information provided on a GoFundMe account set up to help the family, Deputy Jacob Steely was unconscious when he was removed from the water. His son was treated and released from a Mendocino Hospital.

The Lake County News reports authorities have not said whether Steely and his son were swept into the water by a wave or if he went into the water to save the boy.

The News says the two were reported to have been about 100 feet offshore when they were rescued.

The deputy was airlifted to Enloe Hospital in Chico, California to their Neurological, Trauma, Surgical, Intensive Care Unit for additional treatment, according to information provided.

Steely entered law enforcement as a police officer for the Lakeport Police Department in 2007. The GoFundMe site says after spending three years with that agency he was hired as a deputy sheriff with the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

The GoFundMe account created shows a little over $12,000 has been donated to the site as of 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning.

A separate fund for those wishing to make donations to assist his family has been established in the name of “Dep. Jake Steely Family” at Mendo-Lake Credit Union in Lakeport.

-images via gofundme.com, Lake County Sheriff's Office