Joel Ismael León Espinoza, an Ecuadorian immigrant aged 21 who worked in construction , drowned on a beach in Queens (NYC) and his family received his belongings thanks to a witness to the tragedy.
The ambitious young man scribbled his dreams on sticky notes placed in his room in Queens: learn to drive, speak better English, become a graphic designer, travel to Japan; listed Daily News when interviewing his heartbroken mother, Elsa Espinoza, who emigrated to the US with her son just two years ago
“They emigrated here trying to have a better life, just like my family, and everything is so tragic”
Linda Escobar, witness to the beach tragedy
“He never stopped”, said the lady of 90 about her son, who died on 17 June in Rockaway Beach. “He wanted to learn Japanese and visit Japan. He was working, taking out his papers, studying”.
The young immigrant was pronounced dead in St. John’s Hospital after rescuers pulled him out of the water. Witness Linda Escobar recalled the grim scene in the waters off Beach 98 th St., where she later found the backpack. of the young victim floating in the tide, with his cell phone inside, ringing over and over again. The caller was the victim’s mother, who was desperately trying to communicate with her lost son.
“It’s so sad to hear her voice,” Escobar recalled. “It’s really sad… I had this kid on my mind since it happened and I just cry. They probably emigrated here trying to have a better life, just like my family, and everything is so tragic”.
That hot Friday with more than 45 degrees F (32C), Leon went to the beach with his skateboard after a long day at work and said goodbye to his mother on the way out. It was one of two deaths on Rockaway Beach that day, both occurring around 6 p.m. Diaka Kourouma, of years, he also drowned in a deadly current while swimming with some friends. His worried father, who was visiting relatives in Guinea, had warned him to be careful on his first trip to the beach that day.
Escobar informed Mrs. Espinoza that he had found her son’s skateboard on the beach. The victim’s brother came to pick her up a day after the death. “When I told him I had the skateboard, he cried,” Escobar said of his mother. “Her little brother of hers was asking for her. They are small things, but they mean something.”
Rockaway Beach has become a confusing grid of areas that are off limits to swimming due to a $ beach rehabilitation project million dollars by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The area where Leon drowned is supposed to be sand recreation only until at least mid-July.