Deputy who drowned on Mendocino Coast remembered as compassionate, courageous

The drowning death of Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy Jake Steely last week has left a hole in the department and in the hearts of the many people who knew him, according to Sheriff Brian Martin.

Steely was strong, courageous, compassionate and calm under pressure, he said.

“He was one of the finest law enforcement officers I’ve ever had the privilege of working with,” Martin said Friday. “He’ll be impossible to replace.”

Today at noon, the community, his colleagues in law enforcement, friends and family will gather at the Lakeport high school from which he graduated to honor and mourn him.

Steely died last week after a wave knocked him and his 11-year-old son off a rocky shoreline and into the ocean near the town of Mendocino. The boy was the first to be pulled from the sea by water rescue teams and survived. Steely was unconscious, face down in the water, when he was rescued.

Rescuers were able to revive him, but Steely was pronounced brain-dead at a Butte County hospital several days later.

He was removed from life support after making one last contribution to others - his organs.

His family, overwhelmed by grief, has declined to speak publicly, leaving it to friends and acquaintances to tell his life story.

Steely was largely raised in Lakeport and graduated from Clear Lake High School in 1995, Martin said.

He was quiet in high school and wasn’t involved in many extracurricular activities, though he did compete in the Academic Decathlon as a junior, said Paul Larrea, a counselor at the school. Steely was well-liked by his classmates, he said.

“He was a really nice guy,” Larrea said.

According to an Internet posting, Steely served in the Marines after high school, but the information could not be verified by press time.

Steely began his law enforcement career in 2007, when he graduated from the Santa Rosa Basic Law Enforcement Academy and joined the Lakeport Police Department. In 2010, he was hired by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, according to sheriff’s ?Lt. Steve Brooks.

During that time, he worked patrol, was on the SWAT team, the marijuana eradication team and was a canine handler, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Steely had planned to move next to the Redwood City Police Department, Martin said.

Officials there said they’d offered him a job, pending a background check.

By all accounts, Steely remained a nice guy as an adult. Over time, he became increasingly involved in the community, both in his capacity as a law enforcement officer and outside of work, according to Larrea and Martin.

That included coaching the Kelseyville Chiefs youth football team, Martin said.

Even the people who had run-ins with the law liked Steely because he treated them with respect, Martin said.

On a GoFundMe page created for Steely and his family, a man who’d apparently been lectured by Steely about his past activities on the wrong side of the law wrote: “I’ve always wanted to thank him for not only doing his job, but for giving me ‘the talk.’”

“He was very kind and caring, an awesome person,” wrote a woman who said he’d been the one who notified her when her son was in an accident.

Martin said Steely was enthusiastic about his job, willing to go the extra mile.

He recalled Steely choosing to carry a homicide victim through rugged terrain himself rather than wait for a search-and-rescue team to do it.

And Steely, who worked out regularly, was strong enough to do it, Martin said.

“He was a physically imposing guy,” he said. “There are very few people who could have done something like that” without hurting themselves, Martin said.

Steely loved outdoor activities and challenging his physical abilities, Martin said.

He went on whitewater rafting trips and participated in “Tough Mudder runs,” which involve traversing 10 to 12 miles of muddy obstacle courses.

Martin said he went to one Tough Mudder run with Steely and didn’t much care for it. But Steely continued doing them.

“Apparently he didn’t hate it,” Martin said.

Steely also loved hiking and camping and spending time with his family and friends, Martin said.

Steely is survived by his wife, Lynda Steely; children, Alexsandria Calbreath, Braiden Wayment, Tori Wayment, Nia Steely and Ty Steely; brothers, Caleb Steely and David Laird; sisters, Anna Mix, Leabeth York, Abigail Steely, Becky Steely and Deborah Langley; parents Luke and Karen Steely and grandmother, Marian Steely.

Today’s service is being held at the Don Owens Stadium at Clear Lake High School in Lakeport. Attendees must park at the Lake County Fairgrounds and catch a shuttle to and from the service, which begins at noon.