A Costa Rican police chief is standing by his claim that actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner was trying to save his 8-year-old daughter when he drowned on July 20. He was 54.
The beloved actor was best known for his role as Theodore “Theo” Huxtable on “The Cosby Show.”
Chief of the Tourist Police Elberth León told ABC News that Warner and his daughter were struggling in a rip current in the sea off the coast of Costa Rica.
León claims a surfer placed the girl on his surfboard and brought her to the shore.
Bystanders pulled Warner’s body out of the waves, and Red Cross workers performed CPR on him for 45 minutes, but he was pronounced dead.
“The Red Cross also treated the girl [on the beach] and she didn’t need to go to the clinic,” León said.
Conflicting statements
León’s statements conflict with the Regional Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ), which said the girl was not in the water with Warner.
“It appears that at one point, Mr. Warner was playing with his daughter at the shoreline,” the OIJ said in a statement. “He later left her out of the water and supposedly entered the sea along with a friend. It was at that moment that the current pulled them in; the friend managed to get out, but unfortunately, Mr. Warner did not.”
The OIJ said the late actor was “pulled from the water by several people who were on the beach.”
The OIJ’s account of the fatal accident was widely reported by news outlets in America on Thursday, July 24.
But León insists he knows what he saw that day.
“I don’t know why the OIJ is saying that, since they weren’t present at the scene,” León told Us Weekly. “They interviewed Malcolm’s family, but they also weren’t there at the time of the accident.”
“I lost my big brother but I gained an angel.”
Tributes continue to pour in for Warner on social media. Actress Keshia Knight-Pulliam, 46, who played Warner’s little sister on “The Cosby Show”, wrote on Instagram, “A week ago I lost my big brother but I gained an Angel… I love you… I miss you… We got our girls.”
On her Instagram Stories, Keshia wrote, “Thank you for every text call and all of the love that you have sent my way… I’ve just needed a moment.”
