A Florida man, who traveled to California following the death of his father, finally got to ride the waves he had always dreamed of seeing, but died after one slammed him into the pier.
Dana Brown traveled from Cocoa Beach, Florida, to Huntington Beach, California, and paddled out into the surf on Nov. 6, the Los Angeles Times reports. Soon after, Brown was brought to shore unconscious by some fellow surfers after he hit the pillars of Huntington Beach Pier.
Brown died at the hospital four days later, but his friend back in Florida, Rachael Katz, said he "died doing what he loved."
Katz told the Los Angeles Times that she knew Brown, who lived in a van with his father, George, and cared for him.
"Dana and his dad were innocent," she said. "You don't see innocent people any more, and you definitely don't find innocent 60-year-olds. When his dad got sick, he spent probably every day with him. Dana carried him in and out of that van every day. He didn't want him in any kind of an adult caring facility."
Katz said George passed away in March and left Brown heartbroken. Within months, he decided to pack up and head to California with stops in various locations such as Mexico, the Los Angeles Times reports.
He is expected to be buried on Dec. 3 alongside his father in Cocoa Beach.
Read more at the Los Angeles Times.
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