Santa Monica Firefighters rescued a young man who was spotted 30 feet down the side of the bluffs at Palisades Park Monday afternoon. Preliminary reports from the fire department said the man was trapped over the steep hillside.
Once called to the scene, firefighters set up a high-angle rope-rescue system and brought the young man back up to the park, near Ocean Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard.
Pictures from the scene via the Santa Monica Fire Department’s (SMFD) Twitter showed a fire truck backed towards the edge of the bluffs supporting the cable system to rescue the man. According to SMFD, it took 20 Firefighters approximately 32 minutes from the initial 911 call to rescue the victim who was then evaluated by paramedics for injuries and mental health status before being taken into custody by Santa Monica Police Officers.
Incident Alert: Ocean Ave X Wilshire. 1 male victim trapped over the side on bluff. Firefighters performing high angle rope rescue to secure victim. Unk injuries. Please avoid the area. pic.twitter.com/gDAZepJckm
— Santa Monica Fire (@santamonicafd) May 7, 2018
At the time of rescue, officials were still unsure how the man got stranded on the side of the bluffs and why. Captain Patrick Nulty of the Santa Monica Fire Department said the man was not cooperative with questioning.
“Once firefighters got down there, the gentleman did get combative. He fought with the firefighters briefly,” Nulty said.
Despite the man’s aggression, Nulty said SMFDs main concern with any rescue is to secure the victim and make sure they don’t fall or jump during a rescue.
