S.F. officers reveal why skilled Dolphin Club swimmer drowned

Dolphin Club swimmer Nikolas Tomasevic was hospitalized after a seizure simply 10 days earlier than he died whereas swimming in San Francisco’s Aquatic Park, new information from the town’s coroner’s workplace present.

Tomasevic probably suffered one other seizure — and drowned — on the morning of Aug. 23., in accordance with his post-mortem report. The physique of the 35-year-old swimmer was recovered by police divers three days after he disappeared after separating with a swimming companion close to Aquatic Park Cove. 

Tomasevic was an avid swimmer who circled the cove wherever from three to 5 days every week. The route was a few mile and will take about an hour. But he additionally lived with epilepsy, information present and his household confirmed to the Chronicle.

In his post-mortem information, officers couldn’t say for sure that Tomasevic suffered a seizure whereas swimming, however listed it as probably the most possible trigger based mostly on his seizure dysfunction and the presence of mind swelling, which could be linked to drowning in addition to to a seizure. 

Toxicology experiences additionally confirmed Tomasevic had the anticonvulsant drug levetiracetam in his system when he was discovered. Seizures can nonetheless happen whereas an individual is taking Keppra, which reduces irregular electrical exercise within the mind however is just not a treatment for epilepsy, research present.

On the day he went lacking, Tomasevic and a swimming companion — who was not a member of the Dolphin Club — went for a swim however parted methods within the water. Hours later, after not listening to from him, the swimming companion reported him lacking to the membership. 

But fireplace personnel mentioned the “four-hour gap” within the time between when he was alleged to return and when he was reported lacking was, critically, too lengthy. The search operation concerned swimmers, kayakers and using the Coast Guard’s helicopter and its rescue technicians, who have been dropped within the water to scour the realm. Fire crews looked for him on land and water and used jet skis and boats with sonar capabilities.

Three days later he was discovered by divers in Aquatic Park Cove, not removed from the place he was initially reported lacking.

Aleksandra Ivanova, a San Francisco resident who married Tomasevic in 2023, beforehand described her husband as a “pillar” of the town’s Serbian American neighborhood who was coaching to swim from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco.

Tomasevic spent his childhood in Belgrade however accomplished his final yr of faculty in Kentucky, the place he moved to play basketball. He was a longtime server at Coqueta, a Spanish tapas restaurant on the Embarcadero.