Cell phones regularly appear in police reports as temptations that cause texting-while-driving accidents. Occasionally cells are also the impetus for road rage, which causes a different type of tragedy. In this story, Christmas Day turned deadly for one Californian after he reportedly grew so distracted by an electronic device that he walked off a cliff.
The incident occurred in San Diego where a man was seen inadvertently walking off Sunset Cliffs. The area remains a popular gathering place for selfies and cliff-diving videos, but this tragedy was sadly preventable. Eyewitnesses spotted the man’s plunge and attempted to rescue him to no avail. NBC San Diego presents the sobering report of a man who grew so distracted by a cell phone-like device that he plunged to his demise:
The incident happened at 4:50 p.m. Friday on the 900 block of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard when the man, in his 30s, tumbled off the side of a cliff.
“Witnesses stated seeing someone distracted by an electronic device and he just fell over the edge,” said San Diego Lifeguard Bill Bender. “(He) wasn’t watching where he was walking, he was looking down at the device in his hands.”
The man later died as a result of his injuries. Bender reveals that several Good Samaritans scrambled down the cliffs and attempted CPR, but their efforts were too late. Lifeguards have yet to recover an electronic device (phone or otherwise) from the scene, but police do suspect a cell phone played a role in the accident.
One witness, Thor Wilink (13), reported that he heard a man shouting for help, and he scrambled to find his climbing ropes, only to realize lifeguards beat him to the scene. Did a cell phone cause this man’s death? It’s too soon to deliver a final verdict, but the story sounds all too believable.
(Via NBC San Diego)