A seriously injured driver was rescued Sunday after his vehicle's crash-alert system notified authorities of the location of his car, which had gone off a cliff on the Sonoma County coast.
The crash happened around 8 am Sunday on Highway 1 north of Jenner, in the vicinity of Jewell Gulch. A California State Parks ranger spotted the crashed vehicle, which was around 200 feet below the roadway, and the ranger determined there was no occupant in the vehicle.
The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office posted video to Facebook of the rescue effort, which first involved lowering a paramedic down to the crash site from the sheriff's office's Henry-1 helicopter, with the aid of a tactical flight officer.
The rescue personnel could not immediately locate the driver, but after an hour of searching from the air, the tactical flight officer observed some disturbed earth where it appeared something or someone had slid down a ridge.
The officer and the paramedic were again lowered to the area, which was about 350 feet down the ravine from the car wreckage.
The male driver was reportedly critically injured, but was loaded onto a rescue device and then flown to a trauma hospital in the area.
The man is expected to survive, the sheriff's office confirms.
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