OJAI : Man Dies Trying to Push Car Off Cliff

An Oak View man who used his big-wheel truck to push an abandoned car over the edge of a 200-foot cliff near Ojai early Friday was killed when his truck also tumbled over the edge, authorities said.

Robert Alan Beverland, 29, was pronounced dead at the scene of the 1:15 a.m. accident off Rice Road, Deputy Coroner Mitch Breese said. An autopsy showed that Beverland died from a traumatic chest injury, Breese said.

Beverland was unable to back his four-wheel-drive truck off the edge of the precipice, Officer Rob Stuva of the California Highway Patrol said.

A passenger, Laura Kurtenbach, of Ojai suffered moderate injuries in the crash.

Kurtenbach, 30, was transferred to Ojai Memorial Hospital, where a nursing supervisor said she had been treated and released.

A second passenger, Marc Funderburk, 28, of Oak View, escaped from the truck before it slipped over the edge.

The accident occurred shortly after Beverland left a friend’s wedding reception with his two passengers, Funderburk said. On their way back to the reception, he said they passed by a compact car abandoned on the shoulder near El Roblar Drive and agreed to push it down the hill.

After making a three-point turn, Beverland faced the cliff and “took one good run at it,” Funderburk said. But because Beverland had customized his pickup truck by raising the height and installing over-sized wheels, the truck climbed on top of the compact car before coming to a halt, Funderburk said.

Beverland backed up and sped forward again.

This time, his truck pushed the car over the edge, but the momentum also carried the truck’s front tires over the cliff’s edge, where it teetered at the brink, Funderburk said.

“I bailed out, but the truck was already over the hill,” he said. Following Beverland’s request, he crawled down and locked the front wheels into the four-wheel drive position.

By then, Funderburk said, there was little his friend could do. “He was stuck in there, and I thought, ‘It ain’t going to work.’ ”

As Beverland gunned the engine and threw the truck into reverse, the spinning front tires tore into the soft shale. Funderburk said he yelled for the others to jump, but before they could, the truck tilted over the edge and dropped.

The pickup truck was not equipped with seat belts, Stuva said.

Beverland had removed the belts when he customized the truck, Funderburk said.