Man on a wire a recently released jailbird

By Jessie Stensland • September 24, 2016 1:30 am
A shoeless man hangs from phone lines on North Oak Harbor Street Sunday. He told rescuers that he was trying to retrieve a pair of shoes. Photo by Robert Rizzo
A shoeless man hangs from phone lines on North Oak Harbor Street Sunday. He told rescuers that he was trying to retrieve a pair of shoes. Photo by Robert Rizzo

The Oak Harbor Fire Department retrieved a man dangling from telephone lines Sunday, but his unusual saga didn’t end there.

A caller reported to 911 around noon that a shoeless man was hanging from phone lines near the intersection of North Oak Harbor Street and Whidbey Avenue, according to the Oak Harbor police.

The fire department retrieved the man, who said he was trying to get a pair of shoes he saw hanging from the cables. He was taken to the emergency room at WhidbeyHealth Medical Center in Coupeville.

The man, who is in his 20s, walked out of the hospital without being treated and without his shirt, according to Chris Garden, the new Coupeville marshal.

Garden said he found the man “ranting and raving” while walking up and down Main Street in Coupeville dressed only in pants and socks.

Garden asked the man if he needed help and got his story.

The man is a Seattle resident who was arrested in Friday Harbor and transported to the Island County Jail, which has a contract to hold inmates from San Juan County. He was transported back to court in the San Juans, where he was released.

The problem was that he was dressed in orange jail clothes and his clothes were back at the jail. Apparently someone in the San Juans gave him pants and a shirt, but not shoes.

The man told Garden he hopped aboard a ferry and returned to Island County to hunt for his clothes and noticed the shoes hanging from the telephone line.

It turned out, however, that the jail sent his clothes to the San Juans.

Garden helped the man retrieve clothes from the hospital. The marshal offered to help the man but was rewarded with a finger gesture. He walked off, still ranting and raving.

The man reappeared in the morning at a medical clinic in Oak Harbor. He was wet and cold from apparently spending the night outside; he was transported back to the hospital.

The man promptly left the hospital and Garden found him again, ranting on Main Street. The man ran away as Garden approached and disappeared into brush.

Photos of the man on the telephone wire circulated around Facebook while a video of the incident was posted on Youtube.

Photo by Robert Rizzo A shoeless man hangs from phone lines on North Oak Harbor Street Sunday. He told rescuers that he was trying to retrieve a pair of shoes.

Photo by Robert Rizzo A shoeless man hangs from phone lines on North Oak Harbor Street Sunday. He told rescuers that he was trying to retrieve a pair of shoes.