A pup that was swept out to sea by a rip current must be feeling doggone lucky after her unlikely rescue off the San Diego coast.

Sadie, a black Labrador retriever-mix, stole away from the home where her owners were staying during a football game last month, the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department said in a social media post.

While her owners tracked Sadie down the coast using an Airtag on her collar, surfers in Ocean Beach alerted lifeguards that a dog had been swept into the rip current near the jetty, officials said.

A US Coast Guard boat and lifeguards searched the area after the dog disappeared into the channel, officials said.

Lifeguards Garrett Smerdon and Jack Alldredge joined the search on personal watercraft and spent more than an hour looking.

Then, they were told they’d only look for another 10 minutes.

“At that point, I kind of just said, ‘Please let us find this dog,’” Alldredge said.

Knowing that Labs are water dogs and fighters, there was a good chance Sadie was still alive, Smerdon said.

They were called off, but while they were still far out, Alldredge thought he saw something.

“We got closer and closer, and then we realized it was her and we were pretty excited,” he said.

They raced over to Sadie.

“She was super happy to see us, for sure,” Smerdon said.

“She was tired.”

Sadie, who was about a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) offshore near South Mission Beach when she was found, was transferred to a surf boat that brought her to shore, where she was reunited with her owners, officials said.

In a video message, Sadie’s owners, Alexis Barcellos and Brandon Valdez, said they would be forever grateful.

Barcellos recalled in the video that just as the search was being called off, she heard a call on the radio that they had found the dog.

“And we kind of just held our breath, and they were like, and the dog is alive,” she said.

“And we kind of just started crying right away.”

Sadie’s paws and nails were badly damaged from trying to climb onto the jetty, so Barcellos and Valdez had to carry her around for about a week, Barcellos said Thursday.

But she has been in great spirits and this week Sadie made her first trip to the pet store since the rescue to pick out a treat and took her first 1.5 mile (2.4 kilometers) walk.

“We are just beyond grateful she is home safe with us,” she said.

A man accused of driving a pickup while intoxicated, crashing head-on into a car in rural East County and killing an 8-year-old girl over the weekend, was in the country illegally and had been previously convicted of being the driver in a DUI crash that left a person paralyzed, according to authorities.

Brayan Josue Alva Rodriguez, 25, pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and gross vehicular manslaughter in connection with Sunday’s crash on county Highway S-2, also known as San Felipe Road, near Ranchita, according to the District Attorney’s Office. He was among several injured in the crash and was arraigned in the hospital this week.

Alva, a Guatemalan national, was arrested by Border Patrol in Calexico in 2018 and released after being served with a notice to appear before an immigration judge, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

While in immigration proceedings, he was charged in connection with a DUI crash in 2020 and later convicted.

An immigration judge ordered him removed from the country in 2023, but he did not leave, ICE said.

“Now an innocent life has been lost in a tragedy that could have been prevented,” ICE’s San Diego office said on social media.

The girl who was killed Sunday was identified in court documents as Aria T. Her full name has not been released.

The crash occurred around 3 p.m. Sunday, when a 2025 Toyota Tacoma, allegedly driven by Alva, crossed over the solid double-yellow line on San Felipe and struck a southbound Toyota Camry head-on, according to the California Highway Patrol. The truck then crashed into the right side of a Ford F-350 pulling a utility trailer ahead of him that was also driving north, officials said.

The Tacoma then rolled over and caught fire. Alva and a 24-year-old passenger were able to get out of the burning truck on their own, according to Cal Fire.

All occupants of the Camry were taken to hospitals: the driver, a 26-year-old man from Yuma; his front passenger, a 28-year-old woman; and three children in the back, a 5-year-old boy, a 4-year-old boy and the girl who died.

A 13-year-old rear passenger in the Ford truck also sustained minor injuries, the CHP said.

Besides murder and gross vehicular manslaughter counts, Alva, an Oceanside resident, also faces two additional charges of driving while intoxicated within 10 years of a DUI conviction.

In the 2020 crash, at least four people, including a child under the age of 5, were injured, according to the complaint. One victim “suffered paralysis of a permanent nature,” the complaint says. Further details about that case, including Alva’s sentence following conviction, were not immediately available.

At this week’s arraignment, a district attorney’s spokesperson said bail was set at $2 million. Alva was expected to be booked into jail upon being released from the hospital. The extent of his injuries was not released. The next court hearing has been set for Jan. 7.

ICE officials said they would be requesting an immigration detainer — which would allow federal agents to take a person into custody before their release from a local jail.

The California Values Act, or Senate Bill 54, limits cooperation between local law enforcement and immigration agencies, although there are exceptions for those who have been convicted of certain serious or violent felonies.

Staff writer Karen Kucher contributed to this report.

San Diego State didn’t magically become the basketball team everyone expected at the start of the season, but the Aztecs did accomplish something they have struggled to do lately.

They won.

“When you lose a couple games,” coach Brian Dutcher said, “you wonder if they’re going to fight through and get a win. They fought through and got a win.”

After dropping three of four and five of seven going back to last season, the Aztecs rediscovered their hard-hat roots and blue-collared their way to a much needed 77-66 victory Wednesday night at Viejas Arena against a Utah Valley team fresh off wins by 22 and 44.

They also discovered that their other true freshman, Tae Simmons, can play, too.

Elzie Harrington started his second straight game, the earliest a true freshman has cracked the SDSU starting lineup in a decade. Simmons, an undersized power forward at 6-foot-6, was fighting for rotation minutes that figured to vanish with the return of 7-foot Magoon Gwath, until he erupted for 15 points and seven rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench Wednesday.

It came on a night when leading scorer Reese Dixon-Waters had no points through the first 33 minutes. And Miles Byrd, who sat out Tuesday’s practice with the flu, took two IV bags before tip-off and didn’t score at all. And starting center Miles Heide took a hard fall in the first half, suffered a hip contusion and didn’t return. And backup Pharaoh Compton had two dunk attempts fly off the back rim. And Gwath, also recovering from the flu and bum ankle, was on the bench during crunch time with Byrd.

“That’s where our depth paid off for us,” Dutcher said. “We had the depth to endure injuries, endure illness, and still find a way to come out with a win.”

The Aztecs (4-3) scored 77 points. Fifty-nine came from the bench, including 18 by BJ Davis, 15 by Simmons and 12 by Compton. Utah Valley’s bench managed just 16.

Or look at the plus/minus column on the stat sheet: The starters were +3, +1, -1, -9 and -11. The first five guys off bench were +21 (Sean Newman Jr.), +17, +15, +9, +8.

For Davis, it was his fifth straight game in double figures.

“BJ has obviously been one of our best players, but the spark he provides off the bench, who else is going to do that?” Dutcher said. “He’s been dynamic off the bench. He changes the rhythm of the game when he comes in. Sometimes that’s what it is. I try to tell BJ every day how much I value him. I don’t want him to be sad he’s not starting when he’s playing so well.”

Davis sparked the Aztecs to a 13-point lead in the first half. Simmons was the energizer that got them a 12-point margin in the second.

Both leads, though, quickly evaporated. Utah Valley (5-3) closed the first half with a 12-0 run to pull within a point, then briefly took the lead early in the second half. And it was a three-point game with three minutes to go before Dixon-Waters sliced through the lane for a pair of layups in traffic.

“Reese struggled at the start of the game,” Dutcher said of his senior guard who had missed seven of eight shots. “He got some looks that didn’t go in, but I thought down the stretch he really attacked strong to the basket. With the game on the line, he didn’t settle for jump shots. He got it, caught it on the dribble and went right to the rim and finished it.”

The Aztecs spent the week of practice focusing on regaining their defensive mentality and mojo, then on Utah Valley’s first possession did this:

Got confused on assignments and left Noah Taitz wide open on the right wing for a 3. Swish.

The Wolverines’ next basket came when Isaac Davis was left alone under the basket for an uncontested layup.

Not exactly what Dutcher had in mind.

But all that practice grind finally began reaping dividends, and eight minutes later the Wolverines were stuck on 10 points while shooting 3 of 15 with five turnovers.

It wasn’t a perfect defensive performance; the Wolverines still shot a respectable 42.3%, made 10 3s and had 11 offensive rebounds to offset 18 turnovers.

But it was an improvement over the last four games, when opponents scored 80 or more in each. Over the previous 100 games, they had allowed 80 or more just five times.

“The last few games, we’ve given up way too many points,” Davis said. “Being San Diego State, this is a defensive program. Coach has been harping on us all week about defense, defense, defense. … I think we did OK. That’s nowhere near where we’re going to be in due time.”

Added Dutcher: “We held a team to 66 points, how about that? … We have to get better. We know that. I thought we took a step in the right direction today.”

Notable

The Aztecs now have a week off before hosting Lamar … This was the first all-time meeting against Utah Valley … The Wolverines got 50 of their 66 points from starters, led by 17 from Jackson Holcombe (to go with 10 rebounds and five assists) and 15 from Tyler Hendricks … Dutcher won two video challenges, the first for a block call on Taj DeGourville, the second on an out-of-bounds call … Compton played a career high 22 minutes. No one played more than 25 by Dixon-Waters.