San Diego

A car theft suspect jumped off the Coronado Bridge on Monday night in an attempt to elude San Diego police officers and was in critical condition at a local hospital, authorities said.

At 7:10 p.m., two uniformed San Diego police officers saw an unidentified Latino man get out of his car on the bridge and begin to walk on the six-inch-wide railing, San Diego Police Sgt. Frank Bucheit said.

The officers ran a check on the license plate and found that the car had been reported stolen, he said.

“The officers then asked him to step down, at which point he kind of shrugged his shoulders as if to say, ‘What the hell?’ and jumped,” Bucheit said.

Bucheit estimated it was a 300-foot fall into the water below.

The officers then saw the man swimming in the bay and waving to a boat to assist him, according to Bucheit.

The man was taken by Life Flight to UC San Diego Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition late Monday night, a hospital spokeswoman said.