A 27-year-old man fleeing from Los Angeles police officers was critically injured after falling into a deep shaft in Lincoln Heights late Thursday night. The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that officers were chasing a suspect connected to a stolen vehicle when the man exited the car and ran onto a construction site located at the 1800 block of Sichel Street, where the incident occurred shortly after 9:30 p.m., KTLA reports.
The Los Angeles Fire Department mobilized its search and rescue crews in response to a confined space rescue call. Upon reaching the site, they found the suspect, a male patient, trapped approximately 30 feet below ground in a four-foot-wide vertical shaft. According to the LAFD alert, specialized equipment and lighting were set up to aid in the rescue operation that was already in motion by 9:33 p.m.
Not long after, at about 10:18 p.m., an LAFD aerial ladder truck was deployed to serve as a high anchor point for the rope rescue, with the operation continuing under the floodlights that punctuated the construction's night sky. The LAFD statement detailed that Fire Department Public Information Officer David Ortiz was also expected on the scene, anticipating media inquiries regarding the high-stakes rescue.
The critical moment arrived around 10:45 p.m., the LAFD USAR teams lowered wristlets into the shaft, directing the patient to secure them on his wrists. The man was then lifted out by rope, an intense endeavor captured under Sky5's hovering gaze and later relayed to waiting audiences by KTLA. After his extrication, "Paramedics are transporting the 27M in critical condition to a local trauma center with LAPD escort," LAFD's follow-up alert outlined the culmination of the night's efforts.
The patient's current condition remains critical as he receives care from local trauma specialists.
