{"id":324208,"date":"2026-05-20T06:59:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T06:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/324208\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T06:59:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T06:59:21","slug":"man-killed-in-500-foot-cliff-crash-near-a-california-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/324208\/","title":{"rendered":"Man killed in 500-foot cliff crash near a California beach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"sub-text\">Law enforcement agencies responded to driver after his vehicle plunged approximately 400 to 500 feet off a cliff in California. Despite life-saving efforts, the driver suffered major injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel. Officials said the cause of the crash remains under investigation.<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">A man died Monday after his vehicle plunged nearly 500 feet off a steep cliff in\u00a0<a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fxw_lifestyle_article_main-content_article-body_2_2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxweather.com\/local-weather\/california\/santa-cruz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Santa Cruz County, California.<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">Authorities said the 58-year-old man from\u00a0<a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fxw_lifestyle_article_main-content_article-body_2_3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxweather.com\/local-weather\/california\/santa-rosa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Santa Rosa<\/a>\u00a0was driving a black 2017 Honda Pilot southbound on Highway 1 when the vehicle crashed approximately 400 to 500 feet down a cliff just south of\u00a0Greyhound Rock <a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fxw_lifestyle_article_main-content_article-body_2_4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxweather.com\/category\/beaches\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Beach<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">According to the\u00a0<a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fxw_lifestyle_article_main-content_article-body_2_5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxweather.com\/category\/california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">California<\/a> Highway Patrol, the driver traveled off the west edge of the roadway, struck a call box, continued southwest through vegetation, and went over the cliff.<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\"><a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fxw_lifestyle_article_main-content_article-body_2_6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxweather.com\/weather-news\/sailor-sos-record-breaking-wildfire-california-island\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">SAILOR RESCUED IN THE KNICK OF TIME AS MASSIVE, RECORD-BREAKING WILDFIRE ENGULFS CALIFORNIA ISLAND<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"668\" height=\"376\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/hioydpwayaa9pmd.jpeg\" alt=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"title\">Emergency personnel responded to a scene in Santa Cruz County, California, after a driver plunged off a steep cliff.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"sub-text\"> (CAL FIRE CZU San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit\ufeff \/ FOX Weather)<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">Video shared by the\u00a0CAL FIRE CZU San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit\u00a0showed emergency personnel from CAL FIRE, the Santa Cruz County Fire Department, San Mateo County Fire Department, California State Parks, and the California Highway Patrol-Santa Cruz responding to the scene in an effort to rescue the driver.<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\"><a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fxw_lifestyle_article_main-content_article-body_2_7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxweather.com\/weather-news\/memorial-day-weekend-weather-rain-cold-storms-america\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND OUTLOOK: SEE IF THE WET, CHILLY WEATHER IMPACTING MILLIONS WILL DAMPEN YOUR HOLIDAY PLANS<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">Once crews reached the beach, two <a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fxw_lifestyle_article_main-content_article-body_2_8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxweather.com\/category\/us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Santa Cruz<\/a> City lifeguards were sent to the area where the vehicle was located.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">Emergency personnel then found the driver and administered CPR before he was hoisted by helicopter to Highway 1 and transferred to a waiting ambulance.<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"668\" height=\"376\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/702176903_18111836587877238_246770920810643949_n-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"title\">Emergency personnel found the driver who crashed off a cliff and administered CPR before he was hoisted by helicopter to the highway.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"sub-text\"> (CAL FIRE CZU San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit\ufeff \/ FOX Weather)<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">Despite life-saving efforts, the driver suffered major injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">Authorities believe he was the sole occupant of the Honda at the time of the crash.<\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\"><a data-omtr-intcmp=\"fxw_lifestyle_article_main-content_article-body_2_9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxweather.com\/earth-space\/coast-guard-rescue-people-trapped-cave-california-beach\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">VIDEO: US COAST GUARD RESCUES SEVERAL PEOPLE TRAPPED IN CAVE AT CALIFORNIA BEACH<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-438398f6=\"\">Investigators said it is still unknown whether alcohol or drugs were factors in the crash. Officials said the cause of the crash remains under investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Law enforcement agencies responded to driver after his vehicle plunged approximately 400 to 500 feet off a cliff&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324209,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1785,7,9,8,90863,1181,94573],"class_list":["post-324208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-beaches","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-stay22","tag-us","tag-us-regions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}