NEWS: Car plummets 600 feet on Angeles Crest Highway

By Omar Castellon
Staff Writer

One of the two helicopters that arrived in
the aftermath/ Photo by Jim Burns

Early Tuesday morning, a grey Nissan Altima went careening off a cliff on Angeles Crest Highway.

The unidentified driver was on his way to work in La Cañada Flintridge when the accident occurred. George Beltram, an employee of Pro Traffic Services, was the one who walked down the hill and called the incident in. He said the car fell 600 feet. “He was all the way down there.” Another eyewitness, who works for Par Electrical Contractors, said that cars continued to speed at “70 or 80 miles an hour” even after seeing the accident before.

George Beltram/ Photo by Jim Burns

The car was flipped, with its roof crushed, trapping the driver inside. Members of the US Forest Service, LA County Fire Department 130 and the Department of Public Works arrived on the scene. The roof of the car was sawed off and the driver was eventually airlifted to Antelope Valley Hospital. Despite the fall, he remained conscious through the ordeal.

Angeles Crest Highway remained closed for over two hours as the wreckage was removed