After bystanders saw a man being pounded against the surf off Sunset Cliffs Feb. 12, they tried to use a nearby call box to call 911. They couldn’t because the call box was broken. “It’s always happening here,” regular San Diego visitor Hobie Tillman said. “It’s one of the most dangerous spots in San Diego.” Tillman said the call box has been broken for three years. “It’s real serious,” he said. “That’s your only line of defense really to let someone know what is happening.” First responders verified the phone failure after they arrived to rescue the 23-year-old man trapped by the high surf. “He got pounded on these rocks for a while. He looked like he was actually drowning,” witness Mary Wall said. Despite the malfunction, there was no delay in the response. The victim was safely returned to the street level without injury. The phones ring directly into the main lifeguard station, and while lifeguards are responsible for responding to those calls, they are not responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the call boxes. Lifeguard Sgt. Ed Harris told a local television outlet there are five shoreline call boxes in the county, but he said the system is antiquated and unreliable. The problem is compounded by poor cell reception. Portable phones aren’t always at the ready. “You leave [your cell phone] up in your car; if anything happens, you are on your own, and hopefully somebody sees you,” Tillman said. Fortunately for the victim, Sunset Cliffs was packed with holiday weekend shutterbugs, which proved more reliable in an emergency than the phone for that purpose. – NBC 7