The Contra Costa County sheriff reports an off-duty deputy died Thursday while attempting to save a friend from drowning in Lake Tahoe.
Deputy Carlos Francies, 30, was off-duty in South Lake Tahoe with his girlfriend, his sister and another friend, according to the South Lake Tahoe Police Department. The group was out on the lake Thursday afternoon -- Francies and his girlfriend on stand-up paddle boards, the other two in kayaks.

While the group was about 100 yards offshore, Francies saw his sister fall into the water, made choppy from high winds. Another in the group helped her back into her kayak. His vessel, however, had drifted away.
Francies jumped into the water to help his friend, South Lake Tahoe police report, but began "to falter and fall into distress himself."
His girlfriend reached him with a life jacket, but he had lost consciousness.