Washington

Man plunges 60 feet off cliff after rescuers revive him with Narcan, Washington cops say

A man ran off after being given Narcan and fell down a cliff on May 29 in Lower Elwha, Washington, deputies said.
A man ran off after being given Narcan and fell down a cliff on May 29 in Lower Elwha, Washington, deputies said. Jay Cline

A man fell about 60 feet from a cliff after he was revived with Narcan near a Washington coastline, authorities and multiple news outlets reported.

Rescuers initially responded to help a man “in distress from drug usage” on May 29 in Lower Elwha, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Once they administered Narcan, the man got up and ran into the woods, deputies said. Narcan is a brand of Naloxone and a medicine that helps people who are overdosing on opioids.

An officer found him in the woods, but he refused to go to them.

Instead, he walked toward a cliff and fell about 60 feet onto the beach below at about 7:12 p.m., KIRO-TV reported from authorities.

The U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Northwest airlifted the man from the beach about two hours later as the tide was rising, deputies said. He was taken to a hospital for his injuries.

Lower Elwha is tribal land on the Olympic Peninsula in western Washington.

If you or a loved one shows signs of substance use disorder, you can seek help by calling the national hotline at 1-800-662-4357 or find treatment using SAMHSA's online locator.

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This story was originally published May 31, 2023 at 11:48 AM with the headline "Man plunges 60 feet off cliff after rescuers revive him with Narcan, Washington cops say."

Helena Wegner
McClatchy DC
Helena Wegner is a McClatchy National Real-Time Reporter covering the state of Washington and the western region. She’s a journalism graduate from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She’s based in Phoenix.
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