PORT ANGELES — A man in his 30s was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after being rescued from the beach east of Pew Lane on the Lower Elwha Klallam reservation.
The unidentified man had fallen off an estimated 60-foot cliff Monday evening. His condition was unknown on Tuesday.
Deputies gathered at the site on the reservation at about 7:15 p.m. Monday to assist the Elwha Police Department and Clallam 2 Fire-Rescue with a technical rescue, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.
Elwha police were helping medics with a person in distress from drug usage, the release said. After the man was administered NARCAN (naloxone HCl), he got up and ran into the woods.
He was located by an Elwha police officer but refused to come to the officer, instead walking to a cliff east of Pew Lane. He fell an estimated 60 feet to the beach, according to the release.
Deputy Hector Eagan, Deputy Seth Parker, Sgt. John Keegan and Sgt. Harold Edwards arrived with additional search and rescue equipment to help with the rescue.
U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier said the Seattle station received a request about 7:30 p.m. Monday from the Port Angeles Police Department for a 45-foot response boat to conduct a shoreline search.
Justin Grider, Clallam 2 Fire-Rescue Deputy Chief, said the district’s rope rescue team was dispatched and mutual aid was requested from the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, Port Angeles Police Department and U.S. Coast Guard.
The man later was located. EMTs reported he had difficulty breathing and could not feel anything below his waist, Strohmaier said. Fire district personnel retrieved the paramedic five hours later.
At about 9:18 p.m., both the man and the paramedic were hoisted off by the helicopter and taken to Harborview.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office did not release the man’s name because it was a non-criminal medical event, but did say that he was conscious and talking to first responders on the scene. It was not possible to get his condition from Harborview on Tuesday; hospitals need names to look up patient conditions.
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at brian.gawley@ soundpublishing.com.
An unidentified man is prepared to be lifted form a beach after a fall. (Clallam County Sheriff’s Office)
