HERMOSA BEACH, Calif. -- A 29-year-old man was booked for public intoxication Monday after being saved from what could have been a fatal fall from a Hermosa Beach parking structure by a female friend and three police officers, a sergeant said.
Officers responded to a call of a man dangling from the third floor of the parking structure at 1301 Hermosa Ave. about 2 a.m., said Sgt. Robert Higgins of the Hermosa Beach Police Department.
They arrived to see Greg Stroup of Costa Mesa dangling from a railing, with a female friend holding onto the 200-pound man by the wrists to keep him from falling, Higgins said. All three officers feared Stroup would fall before they could get to him, but they were able to pull him back over the edge to safety, the sergeant said.
Stroup had sat down on the edge of the parking structure to smoke a cigarette, but lost his balance, Higgins said.
Stroup, who was booked for public intoxication and released once he was sober, repeatedly kept thanking the officers and the woman for risking their lives to save him, the sergeant said.
