Lifeguards, firefighters and police teamed up Sunday to rescue a naked man clinging to the side of Sunset Cliffs in front of a small crowd of spectators.
San Diego Lifeguards received calls of a naked man gripping the cliff at around 10:40 a.m. near Sunset Cliffs Boulevard and Guizot Street. He was roughly 20 feet from the bottom.
The cliff is very sheer, at about 40 to 50 feet high, and there is not much to hold on to, Lifeguard Lt. Andy Larum said
First responders were able to hoist the man up with a harness by 11:50 a.m. and detained him for a mental state evaluation at a local hospital, SDPD said.
He was not injured except for some scratches, San Diego Lifeguards said.
As he was taken to an ambulance, he said, "I was passin' through the waters, you know?"
The man claimed he was down at No Surf Beach exploring and then he got washed over the reef with a set of waves, Lt. Larum said. The man also said he tried to scramble up the cliff to safety and then found himself stuck.
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"He voluntarily had his shorts off," Larum said. "He had been drinking. He was intoxicated."
It was unknown at the time if he was under the influence of any other substances.
On whether the man actually broke any laws, Larum said, "It's not a clothing-option beach... And areas of the cliff are off-limits, there are signs posting it that it's unstable and dangerous."
"This was the effort of taxpayers' money going to work," Larum said.
