Man drives off cliff on Mulholland Drive

Police were conducting a follow-up investigation Friday after a motorist careened his car off Mulholland Drive and escaped with only minor injuries. 

Officials say the 45-year-old driver went off the road in the 7700 block of Mulholland Drive around 1:20 a.m., plummeting 150 feet down an embankment before crashing into a large tree that prevented the car from tumbling further.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Matt Spence said dispatchers used the driver's cellphone GPS to help locate him. They then talked with the man as air and ground crews searched the area.

"You launch yourself off of Mulholland in foggy conditions, you hit a tree and a helicopter spots your headlights shooting through the trees," Spence said, "I'd say that's pretty lucky."

Spence said the driver does not recall what happened or how he plowed through the roadway's guard railing. Rita Woodle of the Los Angeles Police Department's West Traffic Division confirmed that the driver was not intoxicated.

Officials said he was airlifted to a hospital around 2:37 a.m. with only minor trauma to his face.

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-- Matt Stevens