CNN Legal Expert Page Pate Dies, Cause of Death Revealed

A file photo shows an ambulance. Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images

Regular CNN guest Page Pate died at the age of 55 after he was swept away by a rip current near St. Simons Island, Georgia, according to his law firm and local officials.

Glynn County Fire-Rescue acting Chief Vinnie DiCristofalo told CNN, where he served as an on-air legal expert, that Pate was swept away by a rip current at around 2 p.m. on Sunday at Gould’s Inlet beach. His body was recovered by a rescue boat later that day, officials said.

First responders got a call about “two swimmers in distress," DiCristofalo said, adding that the other swimmer was Pate’s son. Later, responders learned that “the adolescent victim reached shore safely,” DiCristofalo added.

“I don’t have direct information whether they were together and got drawn out,” DiCristofalo continued, noting that Gould’s Inlet is known to have harsh rip currents.

Glynn County Coroner Marc Neu told the Brunswick News that a rescue crew tried to revive Pate when he was pulled from the water. He was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, Neu said.

“Some of Page’s happiest moments were on trips with his sons, whether long hikes on the West Coast or taking in NASCAR races,” Pate’s family said in a statement to 11Alive news.

“Though he was a formidable, sometimes intimidating, attorney in the courtroom, Page had an easy smile, an earnest laugh, and a great sense of humor,” Pate’s law firm, Pate, Johnson, and Church, also told local outlets in a statement.

Pate was a resident of Georgia and had 25 years of experience in civil litigation and criminal defense, according to the law firm’s website.

And CNN wrote that it considered Pate as “a trusted legal voice for many local and national media organizations, including CNN, where he appeared frequently to provide insight and perspective as a criminal defense and constitutional law attorney on high-profile cases.”

Other details about his death were not provided.

Rip Currents

A rip current is a type of water current that can occur near beaches. It’s described as a strong and narrow current of river-like water that moves directly away from the shore, cutting through breaking waves

“Panicked swimmers often try to counter a rip current by swimming straight back to shore—putting themselves at risk of drowning because of fatigue,” says the U.S. National Ocean Service, adding: “Lifeguards rescue tens of thousands of people from rip currents in the U.S. every year, but it is estimated that 100 people are killed by rip currents annually.”

It advises people who are caught in a rip current to not fight it. Instead, people caught in rip currents are recommended to swim parallel to the shore before swimming back to the shore “at an angle.”

Another federal website says that while rip currents can be difficult to spot, people can locate them in places where waves aren’t breaking or where there is foam, discolored water, or seaweed that is being pulled away from the shore.