On their way to help a Big Sur resident who called 911 while hiding in his bathroom, emergency responders came upon five men standing around a car that had gone into a ditch, the Monterey County sheriff’s office reported.
The five were arrested on suspicion of breaking into the caller’s home.
The 911 call was received around 5:21 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 29, from a home on Pfeiffer Ridge Road. The caller said he was hiding in the bathroom and he believed at least two intruders were in the house.
Because the caller was thought to be having a medical emergency, paramedics as well as sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the scene. One of the firefighter crew reported seeing the aftermath of the crash near the burglarized home, and deputies detained the car’s occupants.
After the break-in was confirmed, the five were arrested on suspicion of burglary and vandalism. They were ages 18 to 26, three from Seaside, one from Monterey and one from Fresno, the sheriff’s office said.
The home’s resident was treated at the scene for an unspecified medical problem. One of the suspects also had a medical emergency and was treated before being booked into Monterey County Jail.
Pfeiffer Ridge Road is in rugged terrain between Highway 1 and the ocean in the area of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. It is gated; the sheriff’s report did not say how the suspects got past the barrier.
The few homes along the road have multimillion-dollar values. One of them — Casa Luna, designed by Post Ranch Inn architect Mickey Muennig — sold in August less than a week after it went on the market for $5.5 million.