Man falls 40 feet into Castro Valley creek

A man suffered serious injuries after he fell some 40 feet into a creek this afternoon in Castro Valley, an unincorporated area of Alameda County, a fire official said.

Alameda County Battalion Chief Jim Call said fire and medical crews responded around 3 p.m. to a report of a man who fell into the San Lorenzo Creek from a pedestrian overpass on Center Street.

Call said the middle-aged man had multiple injuries on his body and he was transported to a trauma center in critical condition.

The pedestrian overpass has a guardrail and Call said he didn’t know how the man ended up in the creek.

Call said multiple crews used a low-angle rope system to extricate the man from the water, which he said is approximately 2 to 3 feet deep:

“We were able to walk down (to the creek) but it was very steep. So, we put him in a basket and used a rope system as we walked him out to help take some of the weight off.”

Call said the man “was hurt pretty bad.”

The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the scene, Call said. A sheriff’s deputy said that at this time, the fall doesn’t appear suspicious.