Man Hunted by Mall Guards Leaps Into River

A man fleeing from shopping mall guards leaped into the rain-swollen Los Angeles River in Sherman Oaks on Tuesday and disappeared--either escaping or drowning, Los Angeles police and fire officials said.

The Los Angeles Fire Department called off a search for the man about 7:30 p.m., 1 1/2 hours after he was seen jumping into the river near the Woodman Avenue overcrossing, authorities said.

Earlier, the man tried to steal a car from the parking lot of Sherman Oaks Fashion Square but was chased away by a mall security guard, Los Angeles Police Lt. Jim Watters said. Los Angeles police joined the search but gave up after the man hid in a storm tunnel linked to the Los Angeles River, Watters said.

Mall guards who stayed behind later saw the man emerge from the tunnel and jump into the river, Watters said. The man was seen again a short time later in a second storm tunnel, but police and firefighters were unable to apprehend him because of the fast-moving water, police said. Fire officials said the stream appeared to be flowing at about 25 m.p.h.

An elaborate rescue effort was begun, and firefighters strung ropes across the river so that the man could grab on if he was swept past. At the Vineland Avenue overcrossing in Studio City, about four miles downstream from the area where the man jumped, a firefighter dangled over the river from a rope connected to a fire truck ladder, ready to jump in and grab the man if he appeared.

Watters said he did not know what happened to the man. ‘He may have gotten out and, in the worst-case scenario, he may not have,” he said.