Two people hurt on jetty

Rescue workers transport an injured person. (Submitted photo)

“They were basically washed from the ocean side to the area between the jetty and the pier,” Crescent City Police Sgt. Erik Apperson said. “They fell on the rocks.”

Search and Rescue personnel did not respond to the incident as both people were close enough to the shoreline for emergency workers to reach them and provide medical attention.

Apperson said the boy, whom he did not identify, didn’t appear to have major injuries, but the other individual, 24-year-old Reynaldo Aguilar, was bleeding from his face and possibly had broken teeth.

“This is just another example of people not having respect for the ocean and they need to be aware of their surroundings,” Apperson said. “Those sneaker waves come over that (jetty) with the kind of force that could wash a vehicle off of there. So, people don’t stand a chance.”

Crescent City’s jetty is between two of its attractions — Battery Point Lighthouse and the B Street Pier. The concrete breakwater’s flat, wide surface is inviting for tourists and locals alike, many of whom walk, run or bike along its picturesque stretch.

But as the warning signs at the jetty state, it becomes hazardous when ocean waves crash into it, creating a different kind of spectacle altogether.

Last year, Dr. Onik Arian, an emergency room physician at Sutter Coast Hospital, died after a wave crashed into him while he was on the jetty and slammed him into the jagged rocks below. He was participating in an Audubon Society bird count.

Arian was on the breakwater during a winter storm when waves were strong. But even when the sun is shining, as it was Sunday, Apperson noted that the ocean can still be deadly.

“It looked like a nice day,” he said. “But you cannot predict what that ocean does. You just can’t.”