Homeless Man Rushed to Hospital From Mt. Royal Drive

Paramedics from Eagle Rock Fire Station 42 rushed a homeless man to hospital from the southwest corner of Mt. Royal Drive and Colorado Boulevard Monday after receiving a call that he was unwell—and a fire captain on the scene said this wasn't the first time they had responded to ailments regarding the man.

"He's one of our frequent fliers," said Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Ross Torstenbo, suggesting that LAFD medics had taken the homeless man to hospital many times. (Torstenbo was himself hospitalized with burn injuries he received while fighting a fire in the Calabasas-Malibu area in 1996.)

Roy and Karen Stewart, a couple walking a dog on Mt. Royal shortly after the LAFD ambulance left with the homeless man at 5:20 p.m., said he is a fixture of that part of the neighborhood.

They said that he could be seen lying in front of the entrance to a pediatrician's office across the street from the Colorado Medical Pharmacy—the exact spot from where Eagle Rock Senior Lead Officer Craig Orange of the Los Angeles Police Department found the man asleep during a ride along with Eagle Rock Patch in December 2010.

Maura Duval Griffin, who lives a couple of blocks south of the Mt. Royal-Colorado intersection, said the area around the pharmacy is a prominent and frequently noisy hangout for homeless people and that she had seen some new faces there lately.