San Diego police say the 76-year-old man drove off Coast Boulevard and landed in the water near La Jolla Cove. He was rescued from the water but did not survive. NBC 7’S Dana Williams reports.
A man whose vehicle went over a cliff and into the water in the La Jolla Cove area Tuesday night was pronounced dead at the hospital, San Diego Police said Wednesday.
The crash was reported off Coast Boulevard near La Jolla Cove just after 8 p.m., according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
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San Diego police say the car was being driven by a 76-year-old man. According to Joe Underwood, an SDPD sergeant who was at the scene, it is too early to tell if speeding or drugs or alcohol were a factor. It's also unclear whether the vehicle came to a stop on the cliff into one of the many parking stalls before going into the water.
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A Marine Safety lieutenant with SDFD told NBC 7 that six lifeguards helped pull the man out of the vehicle within 13 minutes of getting the 911 call. The department also added that 30 personnel were assigned to help with the rescue.
CPR was performed at the scene before the man was taken to the hospital, an SDFD spokesperson said. He was pronounced dead at the hospital, Underwood added.
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No other people were found in or near the car in the water, the fire department said.
Around noon the next day, lifeguards went into the water to help a tow crew connect the battered white Toyota to cables. It took several hours, and attempts, to pull the car from the water. The challenge was in part due to the location where it landed. It is known as "the hole," according to John Maher, a marine safety lieutenant with SDFD lifeguards.
"There's a lot of current, there's a lot of backwash, the surf kind of channels into this bowl," he said. "We call it 'the hole.' It recirculates the water. It is a very dangerous area surrounded by two to three sides of cliff."
At 12:04 p.m. the car was lifted onto Coast Boulevard by a tow truck with a crane. Another investigator at the crash site told NBC 7 they are keen to recover the car's crash recorder to see what led up to moment the car plunged off of the street.
