Crews rescue naked woman wedged between 2 commercial buildings in Santa Ana, California, Tuesday afternoon –
The following written content via KTLA Digital Staff, Chip Yost, John Fenoglio
Crews rescued a naked woman who was wedged between two commercial buildings in Santa Ana Tuesday afternoon.
The woman was stuck between two walls in the area of 1020 N. Harbor Boulevard, in an opening no more than a foot wide, according to Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Thanh Nguyen.
Santa Ana Police Department officers were called to the area around 2 p.m. after workers at a nearby business heard the woman’s cries for help and weren’t sure where the sounds were coming from.
The officers eventually spotted the woman, and rescuers were called to the scene.
She was trapped inside a space just eight inches wide, according to firefighters.
Firefighters couldn’t get to the woman, and she couldn’t get out, prompting a plan to drill a hole into the wall nearby to insert a camera and see if it’s possible to cut the wall open and get her out, the captain explained.
It’s unclear how the woman got trapped between the two walls.
“That’s a mystery to all of us here right now,” Nguyen said.
While stuck, the woman was alert and communicating with rescuers, officials said.
Around 4:30 p.m., firefighters were able to get the woman out after cutting a chunk of concrete out of the wall, according to the O.C. Fire Authority.
It’s unclear if the woman was hurt, and paramedics planned to assess her.
Nguyen acknowledged it was an unusual situation but said the department has trained for such scenarios, and the heavy rescue unit had responded to the scene.
Police had said the woman was naked, and the captain confirmed that appeared to be the case.
The business where the hole was cut to rescue the woman was S & C Auto Body shop, and the other wall she was trapped against was part of a separate building next door at 1014 N. Harbor Drive called Harbor Sound.
Workers at the auto body shop say they heard someone screaming for help just before 2 p.m.
“We heard a lady in the back, behind our shop, screaming, screaming, screaming,” said the owner of the shop, who did not want to be named. But they couldn’t find anyone.
“We called the cops and the cops came in and got on the roof and looked between the two walls and she’s all naked,” the man said. “She was in pain. She was screaming in pain. She was upside down too.”
No further details were immediately available. Read more from KTLA 5.
