Driver dies, dog survives after vehicle goes over side of Santa Cruz Wharf in high surf
-
Click here to listen to this article - Share via
See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search. Set us as preferred
A dramatic scene unfolded at the Santa Cruz Wharf over the weekend when a vehicle went off the edge of the pier and into the water, sparking a frantic rescue effort that ended with authorities recovering a body and a dog.
Witnesses reported seeing the vehicle break through the wooden railing at 9:44 a.m. Sunday. When firefighters arrived, they found the damaged section about two-thirds away from the start of the wharf.
Visibility was limited and the surf was high — waves were about 12 feet — making it difficult to immediately find the vehicle, officials said.
After about 10 minutes, the vehicle was spotted resting on its roof in about 30 feet of water, said Santa Cruz Fire Department Battalion Chief Josh Coleman at a news conference Sunday.
“The victim was brought out of a vehicle, upside down, at the bottom of the ocean floor, with significant swelling, in 33 minutes,” Coleman said.
The victim was pronounced dead at a local hospital. A dog was also pulled from the water and survived, officials said.
The emergency response included 13 lifeguards, two jet skis and two boats.
Emergency divers remained in the water for an hour to search the water in case there were any additional passengers in the vehicle, but none were found, authorities said.
Authorities did not provide any detail about a potential cause for the incident or estimate on how fast the vehicle was traveling before it went off the edge of the wharf. The incident remains under investigation by the Santa Cruz Police Department.
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
Kim, an attorney and former San Francisco supervisor, is running against State Sen. Benjamin Allen for the role of running California’s long-beleaguered Department of Insurance. In this episode she talks to Rebuilding L.A. host Kate Cagle about why she should get the job.
The Hillside Strangler murders terrorized Los Angeles in the late 1970s. The killers were a pair of sadistic cousins. One confessed. The other was set to stand trial—until L.A. prosecutors flinched.
Hosts Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito sit down with Puerto Rican rapper and composer Álvaro Díaz, fresh off the release of OMAKASE — his third album, a genre-defying concept record that debuted at number one globally on Spotify and is charting in 16 Latin American countries.
