KTLA

Officials ID 73-year-old man who fatally plunged off Hwy 1 cliff south of San Francisco

In this photo provided by Cal Fire San Mateo, Santa Cruz Unit firefighters recover a vehicle that plunged off a cliffside road killing a man south of San Francisco on Sept. 15, 2021. (CAL FIRE San Mateo - Santa Cruz Unit via Associated Press)

Authorities have identified a man who died after his car plunged off a winding, cliffside road south of San Francisco and landed on a beach more than 200 feet below.

The San Mateo County coroner’s office identified the driver on Thursday as 73-year-old San Francisco resident Anthony Colonnese Jr., the San Francisco Chronicle reported.


He was the lone person in the vehicle when it drove off of Highway 1 on Wednesday between Pacifica and Half Moon Bay.

Responding authorities used a drone to locate Colonnese Jr. who was found ejected from the vehicle, said Mark Andrews, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol. He was declared dead at the scene.

Authorities briefly closed a stretch of the highway to accommodate emergency vehicles. The cause of the crash was not immediately known. The area of steep cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean is known as Devil’s Slide.