Man Dies After Truck Plunges From Disputed Road in Malibu

A Malibu man who had opposed as unsafe a twisting, 2 1/2-mile road in upper Ramirez Canyon that state officials say was paved illegally, died early this week after his pickup truck went off the roadway and plunged 280 feet into a ravine, authorities said.

An investigator with the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said Harold Halley, 73, apparently died instantly as a result of the accident, which authorities believe occurred about noon on Monday, about a quarter of a mile from where the recently paved road connects with Kanan Dume Road.

A helicopter pilot with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department discovered the wreckage Tuesday morning after the victim’s wife and son reported him missing, Sheriff’s Capt. Don Mauro said.

“If that road had been left alone, and the protective berm had not been plowed off to make room for the pavement, I feel like my father would still be alive,” said Scott Halley, a building contractor whose home in the Santa Monica Mountains is near that of his parents.

Scott Halley was among a dozen people who complained about the road last week before the state Coastal Commission. The commission unanimously denied a request for after-the-fact approval of the paving project, which state law enforcement officials have accused a Malibu real estate developer and his partners of carrying out illegally.

The elder Halley, who also attended the Coastal Commission hearing but did not testify, was among numerous residents of the area who complained that the road was improperly built and is unsafe. At the hearing, residents said that the road’s asphalt surface extends to sheer drop-offs unprotected by guard rails and that the road was graded improperly and built without adequate engineering.

The neighbors also complained that the road, which winds as high as the 2,000-foot level in the hills between Kanan Dume Road and Latigo Canyon Road, threatens to speed development in the largely unspoiled area overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Malibu real estate broker Charles Tarrats and his partners paved the road without a permit last May, ignoring a stop-work order by the Coastal Commission. The state attorney general’s office has filed suit against Tarrats and about 40 other property owners who allegedly pooled their money to pave the road.

Friends said Harold Halley, a retired businessman who moved to the rugged area 15 years ago, stopped to visit his son at a construction site in nearby Encinal Canyon Monday morning, staying for a few minutes before saying he planned to go home.

Scott Halley said that when his father did not show up at home Monday night, he began searching for him.

“It wasn’t like my dad just not to come home. We knew something was wrong,” he said. “I drove that road (where the accident took place) numerous times and didn’t see anything. It’s a rugged area.”

Authorities speculated that the truck may have slipped on wet pavement during a rain shower, causing it to go over an embankment. Officers said the victim was thrown about 50 feet from where the truck crashed into a tree at the bottom of the ravine.

Friends and family members said Harold Halley often drove the mountain roads with his dog, Brownie, and knew the area well. The dog was also killed in the accident, they said.