Man found tangled in copper wires, hanging upside down

Chula Vista police arrested a man on suspicion of burglary Monday morning after finding him hanging upside down from the ceiling of an empty warehouse, tangled in copper tubing and wires.

A passerby called police to report hearing someone calling for help from a building on Bay Boulevard near Palomar Street around 7:15 a.m. When officers got inside, they saw the man hanging upside down. Officers later determined he had been in that position two to three hours, said police Lt. Frank Giaime.

Police believe the man intended to try to steal copper when he ran into a problem, Giaime said.

“We don’t know if he intended to fall through or not,” the lieutenant said.

Chula Vista Fire Battalion Chief Brendan Barahura told OnScene TV that the man fell through a skylight in the roof and became caught in copper wiring from an air conditioning unit.

“His whole body was entangled,” Barahura said.

Police were able to pull the man up through the skylight and got him back onto the roof, where firefighters cut dozens of wires and tubing. They then used a ladder on a truck to lower him down from the roof.

He was taken to a hospital to be checked out.

Barahura said the man was lucky to have fallen into the wires. “He would have fallen probably 25 feet to a concrete floor, so it definitely kept him from falling,” he said.

Giaime said the man was arrested and will be released on his own recognizance. It’s not clear whether prosecutors will file charges.