Celebrity Lifesavers : Fleiss, TV Reporter and Surgeon Save Suicidal Man

In what may go down as the L.A. story to end all L.A. stories, a despondent man tried to commit suicide Thursday off the Santa Monica Pier, only to be rescued by the Hollywood Madam, Michael Jackson’s plastic surgeon and the medical reporter from Channel 4.

Santa Monica police said the unidentified man had handcuffed himself and leaped into the water at the end of the 60-foot municipal pier shortly after midnight. Despondent over marital and financial woes, he had intended to kill himself, they said.

But moments after the 40-year-old Los Angeles man splashed into the waves, he bobbed to the surface screaming for his life--and prompted a rescue that involved not only daring but marquee value as well.

Dr. Steven Hoefflin, plastic surgeon to the stars, had been dining that night at the posh Ivy at the Shore. His dinner partners included KNBC medical reporter Bruce Hensel and Heidi Fleiss, the convicted madam, who has supported herself since her arrest by running a leisure wear boutique at the Santa Monica Promenade and who has known Hensel since television anchorwoman Kelly Lange introduced them after Fleiss’ arrest.

Because the night was starlit and balmy, the trio decided to walk on the pier with another person, they said. As they strolled past scattered fishermen, Hoefflin said, he noticed a man standing about three feet from the end of the pier with his hands behind his back.

Turning to talk to Hensel, Hoefflin said, he saw a flash out of the corner of his eye and suddenly heard a loud splash. Seconds later, the man’s cries for help split the night.

“Steve didn’t even think twice--he dove in with his wallet and beeper and everything,” said Fleiss, who has been free on bond pending her appeal. Meanwhile, she said, she and Hensel ran to the nearest pier phone to dial 911.

Hoefflin, who came up sputtering in the cold water next to the heavyset man, said he treaded water while he asked the man to give him his arms.

“He said, ‘I can’t, I’m cuffed. I’m trying to kill myself,’ ” Hoefflin said. As they struggled toward the pier ladder, Hoefflin said, the rough water slammed them against the pilings, and Hoefflin also called out for help.

Hensel, a trained emergency room physician, quickly told the 911 operator that a man had jumped from the pier. Fleiss took the phone and relayed the information as he climbed down the ladder and jumped into the waves.

The 200-pound man, the doctors said, was flailing one minute and nodding off the next; he told Hoefflin that he had taken an overdose of Benadryl, an antihistamine, and the two men feared that if help didn’t arrive soon, he might slip under the waves and not come up again.

But Fleiss, meanwhile, had sent some children to find some rope and had run in search of a Harbor Patrol officer, whom she found at a nearby arcade.

“I said, ‘Please, you’ve got to come, someone is drowning,’ ” she said, “and they came with me to the end of the pier. They were great--they got a boat, got the guy up a ladder and up onto the pier.”

The man, whose name was withheld by police, was transported to St. John’s Hospital and Health Center, where he was reported by hospital officials to be in stable condition Thursday and under observation.

Hoefflin said the man had told him that this was his third suicide attempt and that he was depressed because he had lost his clerical job and was recently divorced and unable to pay his bills. Moved, the surgeon said he had promised the man that he would give him work.

Hensel said he was simply glad that he and his friends were on hand to help. “Hoefflin is in great shape,” he said, “and Miss Fleiss kept her head, getting the Harbor Patrol.”

Hoefflin, who is in training for a triathlon, said he suffered some minor cuts trying to get away from the encrusted pilings but was otherwise uninjured.

“I ran three miles this morning,” the surgeon said from his Santa Monica office, “and I’m doing a face lift today.”

Times staff writer Shawn Hubler contributed to this story.