Authorities Identify Victim in Car Crash

Authorities have identified the motorist whose car on Saturday plunged about 1,100 feet down a canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains as 52-year-old Ventura County resident John K. Chan.

Chan’s mid-size sedan is believed to have careened off Deer Creek Road between 9:30 and 11 p.m., Ventura County Senior Deputy Coroner Craig Stevens said.

Investigators found no skid marks where Chan’s car left the roadway over a four- to five-inch asphalt berm two miles north of Pacific Coast Highway. Stevens described the victim in the fatal accident as an inexperienced driver.

“He’s only had a license six months and he’s driving one of the more treacherous stretches of road in the county,” Stevens said. “He went off the side [of the road] and it appeared the vehicle started rolling sideways and then went end over end a number of times.”

The force of the crash partially ejected Chan from the car’s rear window, Stevens said. Two hunters discovered the accident scene and flagged down a passing motorist, who notified the California Highway Patrol by cellular phone about 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

Chan, who was from Hong Kong, had lived in the United States for about a year, the last three or four months at the end of Deer Creek Road, Stevens said.