A high-speed police chase in California came to a chilling end on Monday when the driver of a car that was being pursued by law enforcement drove off a cliff edge. The car smashed onto the beach below and the driver is now in intensive care after emergency services extracted them from the wreckage.
The high-speed chase was instigated on Monday when the driver of a red Mazda SUV was spotted crashing through a fence on Impala Drive in Carlsbad, California. Police then attempted to stop the driver who then fled the scene and led officers on a chase through the streets, reports NBC San Diego.
Police called off the chase as it neared Palomar Airport Road due to “safety concerns.” That did little to stop the driver from fleeing, however, and in a last-ditch attempt to evade officers they drove straight over the edge of a cliff:
A short time later, officers say the vehicle drove off the cliff in the 5500 block of Carlsbad Boulevard. That’s about 4 miles away from the city government office and less than a half-mile from where police say the pursuit was canceled.
Officers called for medical help and went down the cliff on foot to provide lifesaving measures.
The driver, who suffered life-threatening injuries, was taken to a hospital after being treated by Carlsbad Fire personnel. Police say the driver is expected to survive.
The crash led to road closures in the area while emergency responders could get down to the wreckage, reports CarScoops. Officers from the fire service and local ambulance crews descended on the beach to extract the driver, who has now been taken into intensive care:
Rescue teams eventually extracted the driver and rushed them to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. At this stage, they’re expected to survive. For the time being, it’s unclear what led the driver to make so many errant choices. Interestingly, police don’t believe at this stage that drugs or alcohol were involved. What is clear is that the Mazda did an amazing job of sheltering the driver and sustaining their life until rescue workers could arrive.
The identity of the driver has not been revealed by authorities, but an investigation has been launched into why they fled the scene and sparked the chase.
This isn’t the first time a police chase has led to disaster, with officers last year chasing down a front-loader with heavy machinery of their own and another resulted in the death of a bystander who was crushed between two cars.