Lawrence and Douglas County emergency crews Saturday were forced to close down part of Wakarusa Drive after a distraught man lodged himself in a drainage pipe as part of a suicide attempt.

The incident occurred late Saturday afternoon outside Pioneer Ridge Retirement Community, 4851 Harvard Road.

Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical personnel work to extract a man from a drainage pipe Saturday near Harvard Road and Wakarusa Drive. Police say the man crawled into the pipe after consuming pills and alcohol in an apparent suicide attempt.

Lawrence Police spokesman Sgt. Paul Fellers confirmed that a family member alerted authorities at 3:37 p.m. that the man had consumed some pills and alcohol and had ventured out into the street. Later, a family member told the police the man had entered the south end of the drainage ditch.

Authorities located the man under a drainage cover on the west side of the apartment complex, and determined that the drainage system was too narrow to pull the man back out the way he went in, Fellers said.

Police and fire crews then blocked off Wakarusa Drive from Inverness Drive to Harvard Road to allow fire ladders and other emergency vehicles to access the scene. At one point, a tow truck responded to the incident.

Fellers said emergency personnel were able to reach the man after removing two metal grates and cutting through a support bar. Medical personnel were then able to examine the man and remove him from the drainage ditch with a harness. The man was not able to move under his own power at the time.

After he was removed at 5:15 p.m., the man was taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital for treatment.

No information on his condition was available Saturday night.