SALINAS, CA — A coffee run saved a man's life — and got him arrested — in Salinas on Sunday morning.
Officers finishing a graveyard shift stopped into Brewjee, a coffee shop on Main Street, when they heard faint cries for help coming from somewhere nearby, according to a social media post.
Employees told police they had heard similar sounds earlier before they suddenly stopped. Rather than dismiss it, the officers kept searching.
After checking the area, including the adjacent Maya Cinemas, they realized the sounds were coming from inside the wall between the coffee shop and the theater. They knocked — and got a knock back.
Inside was Isaac Valencia, who had fallen off the theater roof and become trapped in a gap between the two buildings. He had been stuck there for nearly 10 hours.
Salinas Fire Department responded and cut into Brewjee's wall, only to find another layer of cinderblock and cement behind it. Firefighters ultimately broke through a larger section of an adjoining wall along Main Street to pull Valencia free.
He was medically evaluated at the scene before being booked into Monterey County Jail on suspicion of burglary.
"Great work by our graveyard officers, even when tired, for trusting their instincts, staying persistent, and quite literally listening to the walls," the Salinas Police Department said.
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