Party-Goer Killed in Fall From Cliff in Isla Vista
A dancing party-goer died early Sunday morning when he fell off a patio about 50 feet above a rocky beach near UC Santa Barbara, authorities said.
Santa Barbara County sheriff’s investigators do not believe foul play was involved in the incident, Sheriff’s Lt. Mike Burridge said.
Witnesses at the party, which was held at an apartment building in the Isla Vista community, said the unidentified young man was dancing and jumping as he approached a cliff railing, then fell over, Burridge said.
Deputies who arrived at the scene about 1:30 a.m. found the man dead, face down in knee-deep water, “with obvious signs of trauma” caused by the fall, Burridge said.
Investigators found no identification on the man, and the party-goers did not know him. His death comes the weekend after four people were killed and another seriously injured a block away when a car slammed into them.
An 18-year-old UC Santa Barbara freshman has been charged with murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving while under the influence of drugs and causing great bodily injury in connection with the Feb. 23 crash.
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