A Bolinas man last week managed to jump out of two
slow-moving cars in Tocaloma (his parents’ and a sheriff’s
patrolcar), kick an officer in the face, bend a pair of metal handcuffs,
and wrestle with two deputies and a Park Service ranger before being
finally controlled.
Sheriff’s deputies this week said that shortly
after 10 a.m. Oct. 17, Ian Rich, 26, was being driven to a detoxification
center when he changed his mind about going while the family was driving
through Tocaloma.
Deputies reported that Rich kicked out a rear window
of his parents’ car and jumped out before it came to a complete
stop. His parents then used a cell phone to summon deputies.
When deputies arrived on the scene, they said, Rich
was acrobatically walking along the narrow railing of Tocaloma Bridge,
and his mother expressed momentary concern that he might be contemplating
suicide because he had also been standing in the middle of Sir Francis
Drake Boulevard moments earlier.
Fortunately, the bridge varies from only 25 to 30
feet above the bed of Papermill/Lagunitas Creek, the Department of Public
Works noted Tuesday, and in any case, Rich did not jump or fall.
Deputies Ron Fode and James Hickey initially found
themselves unable to handcuff Rich, who by now was considered a threat
to himself.
‘Quite a fighter’
Although under six feet tall, Rich is wiry, Fode said,
adding, "He was quite a fighter." The deputy even tried without
success to immobilize Rich with pepper-spray.
The deputies finally got Rich in the cage of Fode’s
patrolcar, and the officer started to leave when Rich kicked out a window
of the patrolcar. Before the deputy came to a stop, Rich leapt out this
window too, the officer said.
Not only was Rich wiry enough to slip his legs between
his cuffed wrists (so the handcuffs were in front of him), he actually
bent the metal cuffs, deputy Fode added.
As his parents tried to calm Rich down, the young
man instead put up a fight, kicking deputy Hickey in the face, Fode
reported. Luckily, said the officer, Park Service ranger Gus Conde drove
past, stopped, and helped bring Rich under control.
The deputies then summoned firefighters, who strapped
Rich to a stretcher to immobilize him, and they transported him by ambulance
to Marin General Hospital.
Hospital staff treated him for his numerous scrapes
and cuts from twice climbing through broken window glass and then sliding
on the pavement when he hit the ground, deputies said.
Rich was also treated for having been pepper-sprayed.
Fode, however, added that Rich laughed to him, "I don’t know
why you guys carry that stuff." (Pepper-spray is known to be often
ineffective against people under the influence of drugs or alcohol.)
After treatment at Marin General, Rich was taken to
jail but released from custody later that day after his parents posted
bail.
Deputies this week said Rich later called the Sheriff’s
Office to apologize.