Pier Jumper Prompts Coast Guard Search

Authorities have called off search operations early Monday morning after an unidentified man allegedly jumped from the Hermosa Beach Pier prompting a full-scale search of the surrounding waters.

According to Capt. Tom Seth with the L.A. County Lifeguard division, lifeguards at the Hermosa Beach Pier saw a man in his mid-twenties wearing board shorts climb over the locked gate at the pier late Sunday night.

The lifeguard on duty then unlocked the gate to try and stop the man before he jumped off the pier. "By the time he got out there, nobody was there," said Seth.

When the man could not be found, a search began that involved a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter, lifeguards and Hermosa Beach police who also searched on land and interviewed witnesses, Seth said.

According to Seth, an employee at Baja Sharkeez at Pier Plaza said he talked to a man who was wet, was wearing board shorts, and said he had just jumped off the pier.  Shortly after, the man ran from the area.

After ensuring the wet man seen by the Baja Sharkeez employee matched the description of the pier jumper, authorities called off the search early Monday morning, Seth said.

A resident who lives nearby on 15th Street said helicopters could be heard circling the area for over an hour and police cars were parked at the pier and the Strand.

A video uploaded to YouTube by TryCW.com shows a helicopter with a spotlight flying around the Hermosa Beach Pier as lifeguards and police stand by on the beach immediately adjacent to the pier.

Jumping from the pier is a misdemeanor but Seth said authorities do not have a name or complete description of the alleged jumper.

"We don't know who this person was," said Seth.