Officials Seek to Identify Man Killed in Car Crash

Officials plan to use dental records to identify the badly burned remains of a man who died late Monday night after his white 1998 Pontiac Grand Am rental car veered from Angeles Crest Highway and plunged down an embankment.

The accident, which occurred about 10:25 near mile marker 27, ignited a brush fire that led firefighters to the scene about 150 to 250 feet from the road, said Gretchen Jacobs, a California Highway Patrol spokeswoman. The curvy Angeles Crest Highway has a dirt turnaround that overlooks the Los Angeles Basin in the vicinity of the accident.

The car’s driver has been tentatively identified as a Japanese visitor to the country who rented the car, according to Scott Carrier, a spokesman for the county coroner’s office. But Carrier also said that the car’s original renter might have loaned the car to a friend.

“Everything is sketchy,” Jacobs said, nothing that no driver’s license or check cashing card was found at the scene to help with identification. “We can’t specify whether it’s suicide, whether he fell asleep.”