High School Senior Killed in Fall Off Cliff

A beach outing turned to tragedy for a high school senior when he fell to his death from an ocean cliff.

Friends said 17-year-old Daniel Motta, who was a student at San Jose’s Del Mar High School, slipped on loose ground, hit his head and tumbled at least 80 feet into the Pacific Ocean surf on Friday.

The boys with him immediately called 911, but it was too late. A Coast Guard boat later retrieved Motta’s body.

“It was a terrible thing for the boys to go through,” said Joanna Vermy, whose son was a friend of the victim. “They saw him fall, but no one could get to him because the hill was so steep.”

The boys’ screams could be heard at Alicia Stewart’s house near the beach.

“People from San Jose underestimate the dangers down here,” she said. “The cliffs are very, very high and unstable. The ground can crumble under you.”

Motta is the 10th Bay Area resident to die along that coastal section 10 miles north of Santa Cruz in the last decade. All fell from the cliffs or were swept out to sea by large waves.