A Motorist Was Filming the View. Then a Gasp

Police searching for SUV seen driving off oceanside cliff in California
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 3, 2020 6:18 AM CST
Updated Jan 3, 2020 6:48 AM CST

An SUV speeds toward the oceanside cliff, then goes airborne. It's a shocking moment captured on video by a passing motorist in California, where authorities are trying to determine who was in the SUV and where it ended up. California Highway Patrol Officer Bert Diaz says that after the video was captured around 11am Monday, tire tracks were found on the cliff, which sits along Highway 1 in Half Moon Bay. Car parts were found in the Pacific Ocean below, per ABC News. But it's still unclear if the parts are connected to the SUV—described by the Coast Guard as a dark-green Lexus, per the San Jose Mercury News—which authorities acknowledge may never be found.

"We do know from what we've gathered that the vehicle did not collide with the rocks or with the hillside," Diaz tells ABC. "We believe that it might have just submerged into the water," which is up to 40 feet deep. No vehicle was located in the water on Monday and powerful rip currents and swells up to 14 feet have made it "too dangerous … to continue a search," Diaz tells the Mercury News. With just one witness to the crash, "it's hard to say if it was intentional, if it was an accident, or if there was any foul play, but we're looking into everything," he adds, per ABC. The incident is said to have occurred at a sharp bend in the road. Highway Patrol is asking anyone with information to come forward, per the Sacramento Bee. (More California stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X