Associated Press

RED CLIFF — A Chicago man was killed when his car went off a curve on a snaky section of U.S. 24, plunging 500 feet down a cliff.

The State Patrol withheld the victim's name until they could verify his identity.

"He left the road from the pullout just before the bridge. It's the last left-hand curve. I'm not sure where he impacted," said Jim Bradford, Red Cliff's fire chief.

"The car was a complete mess. It just wasn't survivable, even if he hadn't been ejected."

A police report said an eyewitness on the Red Cliff Bridge saw the car driving fast around a curve Saturday before plunging off the embankment.

The highway between Red Cliff and Minturn, to the north, is a twisty, two-lane mountain road traversing high cliffs.

It's known for its spectacular views of Notch Mountain in the Holy Cross Wilderness above and the Eagle River far below, as well as the abandoned mining town of Gilman. Guard rails along many stretches of the highway have been installed only recently.

Bradford said the driver of the Chevrolet Camaro apparently went off the road through a space between two guardrails at a spot popular for motorists to pull off the highway and take pictures.

"There's a guard rail above and a guardrail below," Bradford said. "It's not a spot where there's a lot of accidents. I guess he was just unlucky."

The body, which took nearly three hours to extract from the scene, was too disfigured to make a positive physical identification, said Eagle County Coroner Donna Barnes. Fingerprinting will have to be used, and an autopsy is pending, Barnes said.

The driver most likely died from massive head injuries, Barnes said.

June 3, 2002

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