Man escapes serious injury after falling off Newport Pier

A man who fell from the Newport Pier late Tuesday came away mostly unscathed, authorities said.

Newport Beach police said they received a call around 11:30 p.m. about a man clinging to a pylon under the pier about halfway down.

The man reportedly said he didn’t know how to swim and couldn’t hang on much longer, so bystanders passed him a life preserver, police spokeswoman Jennifer Manzella said.

Firefighters and lifeguards rushed to the pier, but the man fell into the water before they arrived, according to authorities.

The man apparently started making his way to shore, and when firefighters arrived, he was in waist-deep water, said Newport Beach fire Battalion Chief Brian McDonough.

“We weren’t really sure how he ended up in the water,” McDonough said.

A large crowd nearby was playing the augmented-reality video game “Pokémon Go” and watching as the incident unfolded. McDonough said the man didn’t appear to be part of the group.

“This group was there doing Pokémon and this guy separately fell off the pier,” he said.

The man didn’t appear to be seriously injured but was taken to Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach for evaluation, according to the Fire Department.