A stunt-gone-wrong forced authorities to rescue a teen hanging only by a rope high above a California river Monday evening, according to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO).
The unnamed 19-year-old was being filmed by a friend as he swung from a catwalk below the Foresthill Bridge before equipment trouble left him stuck, the PCSO wrote on Facebook.
A 911 call by the friend brought authorities to the scene, finding the teen dangling 30 feet below the catwalk, the PCSO wrote.
The teen was “dangling 700 feet above the American River,” Cal Fire Battalion Chief Nolan Hale told CBS Sacramento.
‼️TRESPASSING ON THE FORESTHILL BRIDGE IS ILLEGAL‼️ Story: https://t.co/nEoHsEqVmL #PCSO #PlacerCounty pic.twitter.com/xhJoqarUl7
— Placer Sheriff (@PlacerSheriff) September 19, 2023
A Cal Fire Technical Rescue Team (TRT) worked with a sheriff’s office Search and Rescue (SAR) Mountain Rescue Team, lowering down a rescuer and hoisting the teen to safety, the PCSO statement continued.
Hale called the rescue “a high-risk operation,” telling CBS Sacramento the teen “was pretty shaken up” after over an hour underneath the bridge.
“These kids are alive and that makes me super happy,” Maureen Meehan, an El Dorado County resident, told the outlet.
The teen was unharmed. He and his friend received trespassing citations, according to the PCSO. (RELATED: Insane Video Shows Pilot Age 50 Years During High Speed Stunt)
Stunts gone wrong in 2023 have included the reported fatal plunge of a Frenchman off a Hong Kong skyscraper and the hospitalization of a Universal Studios stuntman after a 30-foot fall.