Would-be Seattle ninja found impaled on metal fence

By KOMO Staff

Summary

A police officer found the man on top of a fence screaming for help late Monday night. He was apparently intoxicated and thought he could leap the fence.

Story Published: Nov 17, 2009 at 8:28 AM PST

Story Updated: Nov 17, 2009 at 9:30 AM PST

SEATTLE -- An aspiring ninja learned the hard way that he isn't able to jump a 5-foot fence.

Seattle police said an officer checking out a report of an assault in the 600 block of 7th Avenue late Monday came across a man impaled on top of a metal fence, screaming for help.

Firefighters pulled the man from the metal spike and took him to Harborview Medical Center.

Police thought the man may have been involved in the earlier assault call so they went to interview him at the hospital. There, police said, the man told them that he was not being chased but thought he was a ninja and believed he could leap the fence.

"Clearly he was overconfident in his abilities, no doubt bolstered by alcohol," police wrote in a news release.