Man Rescued 2 Days After Crashing Off California Cliff

A man who said he veered off a California highway to avoid hitting some deer has been rescued two days after rolling “several hundred feet down the cliffs.”

According to the California Highway Patrol’s (CHP) Coastal Division Air Operations, units received a call from Pacific Grove Police Dispatch around 8:30 Tuesday morning, February 27, requesting a helicopter to fly from Big Sur to Carmel in search of a possible vehicle over the side. CHP said an employee from Post Ranch in Big Sur had left work late Sunday night and never returned home.

A CHP Airplane that was already in Monterey County responded to the call and 20 minutes later located a vehicle approximately 400 feet over the side of a cliff below Highway 1, and a man “franticly waving a makeshift flag.”

Footage shows CHP helicopter H-70 sending the Big Sur Fire Chief down to the victim so he could assess his injuries. The driver told the chief he was driving home from work late Sunday night and swerved to avoid hitting deer, causing him to veer off the road and roll “several hundred feet down the cliff’s edge,” CHP said.

The driver reported he was ejected through his car’s sunroof as the vehicle rolled down the hillside in a location without beach access or trails. The vehicle was not visible from the roadway either, according to officials.

CHP said the man “appeared to be stable and suffered moderate injuries” despite having been stranded for two days. Credit: CHP Coastal Division Air Ops via Storyful

Video transcript

[HELICOPTER PROPELLERS RATTLING]

- All right, I'm on approach. All right, looking good. [INAUDIBLE] be good. Go back here. Clip's going down. Good line, keep that.

Little bit of back. [INAUDIBLE] 3. A little bit more back. 2. Hold it back.

Keep that left. 1. And hold your left. Hold your hover. Hook's in hand.

Easy right to center. Easy right to center. And hold. Making the connection. Connecting.

Easy right to center. Taking the load in 3, 2, 1. Load it on. [INAUDIBLE] left. Just start a little easy.

Coming up. Nice easy movement to the left. Halfway.

Little easy back. And hold your left. Hold your hover. Little easy back.

And hold. Hold. Ground in 3, 2--