Tree Saves Woman Who Allegedly Was Pushed Into Ravine

Police are searching for a man who allegedly tried to break his girlfriend’s neck and then pushed her into a deep ravine near Irvine, where she lay tangled in a tree branch for hours before being rescued Wednesday morning.

The 33-year-old Santa Ana woman--whose name was not released--was eventually hoisted to safety by a fire rescue team and taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana.

Authorities said her injuries are not life-threatening.

The woman, who police said has a restraining order against her boyfriend, agreed to take a drive with him about 7 a.m. Wednesday.

The pair drove to a secluded area west of Limestone Canyon Regional Park on Hicks Canyon Haul Road.

Police said the man tried to break the woman’s neck and then pushed her off the cliff.

She landed in a tree jutting out from a small ledge, said Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino.

Three people who were bicycling in the unincorporated area of Orange County heard a woman crying for help shortly before 11 a.m.

The bikers, one an off-duty Huntington Beach firefighter, called rescue workers who found the woman caught on a tree branch about 25 feet from the lip of the ravine, Amormino said.

“She was very lucky,” Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Miller said.

Had her fall not been broken by the tree, she would have fallen at least another 50 feet, Miller said.

It took rescue workers more than an hour to lift the semiconscious woman to safety, using a mesh-and-metal basket, a ladder truck and other rescue equipment.

The woman’s vital signs were stable when she was pulled from the ravine, but she suffered “moderate trauma,” Miller said.

“She was extremely calm. She was definitely scratched up and complained of back pain and neck pain,” he said. “If it hadn’t been for those [cyclists], she could have perished.”

The boyfriend, whom police declined to name, is wanted on suspicion of domestic violence and could be charged with attempted murder, Amormino said.

He fled in a white GMC extended-cab pickup.