OC Man Dies From Rattlesnake Bite While Biking OC Trail

IRVINE, CA — A 25-year-old Orange County man died after he was bitten by a rattlesnake while mountain biking in Irvine.

Costa Mesa resident Julian Hernandez was biking at Quail Hill Trailhead on Feb. 1 at around 11 a.m. when he was bitten.

Authorities responded to the scene and took Hernandez to the hospital, where he fell into a coma and remained in an intensive care unit.

On March 4, his family confirmed with multiple news outlets that Hernandez had passed away.

A GoFundMe created by Hernandez's family has raised around $19,000 in order to pursue a legal investigation into their son's cause of death.

"In the United States, fatal snakebites are rare. According to the CDC, about five people die each year from venomous snakebites. Julian was 25. He was strong and healthy. He was alive when he got to the hospital," Family member James Hernandez wrote on GoFundMe.

"We are not lawyers. We are a family that handed our son over to people we trusted and never got him back. We have questions that deserve answers, and getting those answers requires a legal fight that costs more than any normal family can afford."

Dr. William Woo with Kaiser Permanente told KTLA that venom from a snake bite can spread fast.

"A snake bite with venom from a rattlesnake causes significant stress on the body," he said. "It can cause organ shutdown. It can be really severe and we know that the effective treatment is antivenom and the sooner we can administer, the better off the patients are."

No further information was immediately available.

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