Man puts the 'car' in Carmel, gets stuck on the beach for 7 hours, police say

A man and a woman stand by the man's car stuck in the sand at Carmel Beach in Carmel-by-the-Sea in Monterey County on March 9, 2019. The man called the police department to report that the car was stuck at around 3 a.m. and the police department said that he was stuck for about seven hours. less A man and a woman stand by the man's car stuck in the sand at Carmel Beach in Carmel-by-the-Sea in Monterey County on March 9, 2019. The man called the police department to report that the car was stuck at ... more Photo: Courtesy Of Officer Rachelle Lightfoot/Carmel-by-the-Sea Police Department Photo: Courtesy Of Officer Rachelle Lightfoot/Carmel-by-the-Sea Police Department Image 1 of / 22 Caption Close Man puts the 'car' in Carmel, gets stuck on the beach for 7 hours, police say 1 / 22 Back to Gallery

A man in his 20s drove his car onto Carmel Beach in the early morning hours of March 9, only to get the car trapped on the beach for about seven hours, according to Carmel-by-the-Sea police.

"What not to do: Drive car on beach to impress girlfriend. Driver was cited for driving on the beach and we're still working on getting his vehicle out!" reads a post on the Carmel-by-the-Sea Police Officers Association's Facebook page.

It was posted, along with a photo showing the man, his girlfriend and his car deep in the sand, by Officer Rachelle Lightfoot a few hours before the car got towed off of the beach. Lightfoot said that the police department got a call from the man at around 3 a.m. on Saturday after he had driven onto the beach and couldn't get his car back up the hill leading down to the water.

"He called us, he said, 'I messed up. I'm stuck. I need help,' so we went down and assisted him," Lightfoot said. Eventually, they cited him for driving on the beach and said that he had to get a private tow to get the car off the beach.

Lightfoot said a "bunch of different trucks" came through to try to rescue the man's vehicle, and that finally a tractor was finally able to handle the job.

"The guy thought it was a road, he said," Lightfoot said. "I mean, there's rocks there and it's pretty obvious that you're not supposed to drive in that area."

Lightfoot said the man "made a mistake, an error of judgement."

"This poor guy, he's a nice kid. He just made a bad decision and it cost him some money and a lot of time," she said.

She said that this type of incident happens occasionally at Carmel Beach, located in Monterey County, and reminded the public that there is a reason why there are barriers attempting to block cars from the beach.

"Just try to, you know, respect barriers," Lightfoot said. "They're not trying to keep you from having fun. They are there for a reason."