Live Oak | Man rescued after falling off Sunny Cove cliff (original) (raw)
LIVE OAK — The Central Fire District of Santa Cruz County rescued a man who fell off a Sunny Cove cliff amid powerful waves Monday evening.
The man fell from a sloped cliff at the end of Sunny Cove Drive in Live Oak around 7 p.m. after slipping on an area at the edge of a cliff ledge that was slick from sea spray and crashing waves, according to a witness.
Doug Erickson, who was sitting along Sunny Cove Drive watching the waves at the time of the incident, said he saw the man walking toward the edge of the road, seemingly unknowing he was approaching the slippery rock slope.
“The guy didn’t realize that he started walking towards it and slipped and it seemed like he went 10 feet in the air — his legs went up in the air and he came down headfirst on the rock ledge,” Erickson said.
Erickson said he and several other bystanders rushed carefully to the man and called 911.
As they waited for ambulances and fire trucks to arrive, two bystanders performed CPR on the man while attempting to shield him from the waves that continued crashing over them, Erickson said.
“While two people were doing CPR, the waves were hitting the cliff, washing up on to them,” he said. “They had to lay flat on top of the person, so that they wouldn’t get swept off the ledge, it was quite dramatic.”
Central Fire arrived at the scene around 7:04 p.m., according to a preliminary incident alert. Responders treated the man on the scene before transporting him to an ambulance where he was taken to receive further medical care, a representative from Central Fire said.
The man was alive at the time of his transport, though the department could not disclose his current medical status, according to Central Fire.
“Aren’t we lucky to have people that are willing to put their lives at risk just to help others?” Erickson said.