More Big Swells Put Sea Wall Off-Limits

Los Angeles County Harbor Patrol officers were keeping people off a rock wall at King Harbor in Redondo Beach on Thursday after 27 people were swept onto the rocks or into the ocean by a 12-foot wave on New Year’s Day.

“We are still having the swells coming through,” Harbor Patrol Sgt. John Pitzer said. “The area is all taped off.”

Most of the waves hitting the sea wall on Thursday were about eight feet tall, just enough to splash over the rock barrier. But officials were afraid that another “sleeper wave” measuring 10 to 12 feet might come along as it did Wednesday, when anglers and pedestrians were tossed into the water.

Twenty people were thrown into the ocean and rescued by the Harbor Patrol and county lifeguards. Seven more people were thrown onto the rocks. Paramedics treated 13 people at the scene, and eight were taken to South Bay Medical Center in Redondo Beach with bruises and broken bones. All but two were released Wednesday night, hospital spokeswoman Sharon Clancy said.

One man, who was not identified, had a broken back and was transferred to another medical facility. One child was transferred to a pediatric hospital. Both were in stable condition.

Pitzer said that every year someone walking on the wall is injured. Last year, Paul Mulvihill, a 54-year-old tourist from Vancouver, Wash., was killed when he ventured out onto the rock barrier to warn others of the dangerous surf conditions. Roberta Turner, a Redondo Beach friend of Mulvihill’s, was seriously injured. The wave knocked both of them into a nearby parking lot.