Woman, who was found 300 ft. off a cliff, in stable condition

At around 7:00 yesterday, the Santa Clarita Sheriff’s Department received a call from a man who said that his wife had just called him and told him that she accidentally drove off a cliff somewhere off of Sand Canyon Road.

The woman told her husband that she did not know where she was, only that she took the road past In N Out Restaurant.

Sand Canyon road, if taken southbound from Canyon Country, eventually winds into the Tujunga pass, a very dangerous and steep mountain road that connects to the 210 freeway.

Because the area is so remote, Sheriff’s deputies’ first move was to contact the woman’s cell phone provider. They were then able to use the actual cell signal to get an idea of where to start looking.

“Through talks with her phone company we were able to narrow down the search area,” said Sgt. Darren Harris of the Santa Clarita Sheriff’s station.    

At that point, all stops were pulled out, as the Sheriff’s department called in their air unit, many ground units, and members of the local search and rescue team. Two ground units were able to locate skid marks on the road, and they called the woman’s cell phone. Once they established communication with her, they would turn on and off their sirens at various locations asking her when she could hear it.
[view:node_ad=5]Through that, the air unit was able to pinpoint a precise search location, and spotted the car an estimated 300 feet down a cliff.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department, working in tandem with the Sheriff’s were able to drop a paramedic into the canyon, and air lift the woman from the wreckage to receive treatment at Providence Holy Cross.

“There’s not a doubt in anyone’s mind that the cell phone made her very fortunate,” said Sgt. Harris. “She was in such a remote area that there’s no telling how long she would have been down there before we could locate her.”

The woman is a 57 year old Canyon Country resident.       

She couldn't have been more lucky.  In Sand Canyon, cell phone service is sketchy and only a few areas have some service, if any.  But, the area where the woman was found, happened to be one of those few areas.    As of today, she is in stable condition, with only a broken collar bone and some back injuries.