Sailor dies from fall aboard Nimitz

Logistics Specialist Seaman Garcia-Herrera was from Chicago

A sailor aboard USS Nimitz, which is currently conducting pre-deployment training off the California coast, died of injuries from a fall from the carrier’s aircraft elevator Sept. 28.

The U.S. Navy has identified the sailor as Logistics Specialist Seaman Juan Jose Garcia-Herrera, 21, of Chicago. He completed logistics specialist “A” school before reporting aboard Nimitz in June 2017.

A Navy spokesman said the sailor fell off one of the lowered elevators at 9:04 p.m. while the vessel was in port at Naval Air Station North Island in California. According to the Navy Times, first responders rushed the seaman to the University of California San Diego Regional Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead around 2 a.m. on Sept. 29.

“All of that is being investigated now by NCIS. It’s ongoing right now,” Nimitz Public Affairs spokesman Ensign Bill Petkovski told the Navy Times.

The aircraft carrier is based in Bremerton.