Man, juvenile killed when pickup truck plunges into ocean off Pescadero

PESCADERO >> Two people, including a female juvenile, died Friday night after their Toyota Tacoma plunged over a cliff and crashed into the ocean at Pescadero State Beach, according to the California

Highway Patrol.

The crash was reported just before 9 p.m. near Highway 1 and Pescadero Creek Road, CHP Officer Art Montiel said.

Montiel said the driver, identified as a man in his 40s, was pronounced dead at the scene. and the juvenile's body was discovered inside the Toyota after it was recovered from the ocean. She was pronounced dead just before 1 a.m. Saturday by San Mateo County fire paramedics, Montiel said.

Montiel said authorities were still searching the area after receiving information a third person may have been inside the pickup.

An initial investigation revealed the driver was traveling west on Pescadero Creek Road and apparently drove through the Highway 1 intersection and beach parking lot “at an unknown speed.”

“For an unknown reason, the driver of the Toyota failed to slow and stop at the intersection with SR-1,” Montiel

said in a news release.

The pickup truck came to rest upside down partially submerged in the ocean after plunging over an approximately 30-foot cliff, he added.

“A Coast Guard helicopter responded to the scene and conducted an aerial grid search for any other occupants, with negative results,” Montiel said.

The crash is currently under investigation. It is unknown at this time whether drugs or alcohol were a factor in the crash, Montiel said.

California Highway Patrol officials are asking witnesses to contact Officer Wilkinson at 650-779-7200.