Man Stuck on Cliff Rescued, Arrested

A Laguna Niguel man allegedly under the influence of alcohol was rescued and then arrested Monday morning after becoming stuck on the steep cliff above Dana Strand Beach, authorities said.

Codey James, 29, was arrested on suspicion of being drunk in public and trespassing after firefighters walked him up the 250-foot cliff along the northwest portion of the Dana Point Headlands, said Lt. Ron Wilkerson of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

James was spotted stranded about 125 feet up the cliffs on private property about 10 a.m. by a citizen who called deputies, Wilkerson said.

“He apparently started climbing up there early this morning and got stuck,” Wilkerson said.

A surfer on the beach below saw the man and heard him yelling.

“He was standing on a tree branch, yelling and being kind of weird,” said the surfer, who would not give his name. “He took his shirt off and started waving it, but we figured he was just fooling around.”

Firefighters managed to walk him off the hill without incident, said Capt. Scott Brown of the Orange County Fire Authority.

“There was no elaborate physical rescue involved, they just walked him out of there,” Brown said. “He was uninjured . . . but we really don’t know why he was up there.”