A 22-year-old man was hospitalized Sunday morning after leading Irvine police on a pursuit that ended when he boarded a random boat on Newport Beach’s Balboa Island.
Police said the man, covered in blood from self-inflicted cuts, likely was experiencing a mental health crisis.
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Initially, police responded to a report of “a suspicious man with blood on him” around 7 a.m. in the area of Rockefeller and Jamboree Road, where the 22-year-old was found inside a car. The man fled from police on Jamboree Road until the road ended in Newport Beach, near the harbor.
He then jumped into the water and took a kayak to a boat in the harbor, Irvine police spokesperson Kyle Oldoerp said.
With the assistance of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Harbor Patrol, the man was safely detained and taken to a hospital. It was determined that the blood on the man was from self-inflicted cutting wounds made with a razor blade, which he threw into the ocean, Oldoerp said.
It was unclear if the man would face any charges, he said.