Photo by Joe Flood

A man was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries early Tuesday morning after he was discovered at the base of an escalator bank at the Dupont Circle Metro station, apparently after falling up to 6020 feet.

The man, whose identity has not been released, appeared to be “highly intoxicated” when he was found by a group of Metro engineers about 3:25 a.m. at the bottom of the Q Street NW entrance to the station, according to Caroline Lukas, a spokeswoman for the transit agency. Lukas says the bottom of the escalators is about 60 feet down from the circular, Walt Whitman-inscribed parapet wall that surrounds the entrance.

“It appears that he landed on some part of the escalator and slid down to the base,” Lukas says. Metro Transit Police, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services responded to the scene.

UPDATE: Metro says the individual found at the bottom of the escalators fell about 20 feet from the Connecticut Avenue side of the parapet. He has been identified somewhat as a 21-year-old California resident. Lukas, the Metro spokeswoman, says that after surgery, the man’s condition has stabilized.