Police Chief, 2 Friends Are Safe After Being Lost 17 Hours in Forest
The police chief of Oceanside and two friends were lost for more than 17 hours while hiking in the San Bernardino National Forest.
Chief Michael Poehlman and his friends found their way back to camp Saturday after spending the night in below freezing temperatures in the national forest, said Darrell Bell, a spokesman for a mountain rescue unit of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.
Poehlman, 46, John O’Connor, 54, of Los Osos, and John Kuezwara, 54, of San Diego set out for their hike Friday morning and were expected to return in the afternoon. A 35-member search team organized by the Sheriff’s Department spent the night looking for the men.
The three told authorities they got lost in the late afternoon and decided to hunker down for the night and wait for morning before trying to find their way back to camp.
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