By Isle of Wight ObserverAn incident at Totland Pier was resolved peacefully just after dawn this morning (Saturday) when Hampshire Police scrambled the National Police Air Service helicopter and Coastguard rescue teams rushed to Totland Pier.
It followed police being alerted to a disturbance involving two men in a house on Tennyson Road, Freshwater. And it ended with a dramatic search and the police arresting one of the men, aged 37, while a 31-year-old was found in the sea at the derelict pier.
A sweep involving police both in the air and on the ground – backed up by the Coastguard – located the 31-year-old in the sea close to the pier. After police spoke to him – he was taken to St Mary’s Hospital, Newport, by an IW Ambulance crew.
As previously reported by the IW Observer, the NPAS helicopter, using strobe lights, woke Totland residents just before 6am as it hovered in the skies above homes in The Avenue area of the village, just a few hundred yards from the shoreline.
Hampshire Constabulary told the IW Observer in a statement: “We were called at 5.17am this morning (November 3) to a report of two men causing a disturbance at a home on Tennyson Road, Freshwater.
“Officers were deployed and conducted a search of the area after it was reported the men had left.
“A 37-year-old man was located at Totland Bay and arrested on suspicion of harassment.
“He remains in police custoday at this time (10.45am).
“A 31-year-old man went into the sea. He was later taken to hospital for treatment.”
Both The Needles and Ventnor Lifeboat crews were called to the incident and the Freshwater Independent Lifeboat, based at nearby Freshwater Bay, was called at 6.06am and launched before making for Totland.
The helicopter, after hovering in the skies just a few hundred feet above Totland homes, left the scene at around 6.35am.
