A man was seriously injured when he drove his car off a cliff after a pursuit in Carlsbad on Monday afternoon, police said.

Carlsbad firefighters and police officers responded to Palomar Airport Road and Avenida Encinas around 4:10 p.m. A lieutenant with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said the department assisted Carlsbad police with the pursuit minutes before the incident.

The Carlsbad Police Department, which is investigating this incident, said one of its officers saw a vehicle crash into the fence of a city government building in the 2400 block of Impala Drive just after 4 p.m. The vehicle then took off and officers said they responded to the incident. a traffic stop.

Police said they began chasing the car after the driver did not stop, but the pursuit was later called off on Palomar Airport Road west of Avenida Encinas due to safety concerns.

A short time later, officers said the vehicle went off a cliff in the 5500 block of Carlsbad Boulevard. That’s about 4 miles from the city government office and less than a half-mile from where police said the pursuit was called off.

Officers called for medical assistance and descended the cliff on foot to perform life-saving measures.

The driver, who was in life-threatening condition, was taken to the hospital after the intervention of Carlsbad Fire Department teams. The driver is expected to survive, police said.

The cause of the incident is still under investigation. Carlsbad police said drugs and alcohol are not believed to be factors in this crash.

Video taken from the scene shows the mangled body of the car. People on the beach stopped and looked, shocked to see how far the car had fallen.

A witness said he saw four police vehicles following the car involved as it drove from Carlsbad Village toward the Encinas area.

“At first when I saw it I thought it was a normal traffic stop, but when I saw four police cars following it I said, ‘This is definitely something different,'” the witness said. “I saw the car go off the cliff. Honestly, it was like an explosion. It was like fireworks. It was just a big sound. It was like a wave breaking; a really hard wave. It was crazy.”

Michael Shryock says he passed right by the chase as he was heading south on Carlsbad Boulevard.

“It wasn’t at any abnormal speed, it just looked like someone was driving along the shore with cops behind them and had their hazard lights on, going 40 to 50 miles per hour and then heading off the cliff,” Shryock said.

Roads in the nearby area were closed for several hours after the accident. Carlsbad Boulevard was closed in both directions from Cerezo Drive to Island Way, and westbound Palomar Airport Road was closed at Avenida Encinas. Carlsbad police said all roads were reopened at 8 p.m.

Road Closure Alert 4:55 PM – Carlsbad Boulevard in both directions from Cerezo Dr to Island Way and westbound Palomar Airport Road from Avenida Encinas are closed due to a vehicle going over a cliff.

Please use an alternative route while we conduct our investigation.

— Carlsbad Police (@CarlsbadPolice) November 5, 2024

A driver in April 2021 flew over a cliff and went towards the water in the same area. As the SUV crossed from Palomar Airport Road onto Carlsbad Boulevard, the driver crossed multiple lanes of traffic, went through a guardrail and flew dozens of feet down to the beach, eventually crashing into the water, according to Carlsbad police. The driver who was removed from the vehicle suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Police ask for witnesses or anyone with information regarding this incident to contact the department at 442-339-2115.

This is a developing story that will be updated as more information becomes available.