Car crash near Santa Cruz Boardwalk injures passenger; San Jose man arrested

SANTA CRUZ — A 20-year-old man was arrested after allegedly ending his date by drunkenly driving a car off the side of the trestle bridge with a female passenger inside, police said.

Emergency responders were called at 5:19 a.m. Sunday to a single-vehicle crash at East Cliff Drive and the San Lorenzo River Railroad Bridge. On the beach beneath the bridge, not far from the river mouth, responders found a red Toyota Prius on its roof, Santa Cruz Police Department spokesperson Joyce Blaschke said. The female passenger was airlifted to an out-of-county trauma center and was hospitalized in serious condition, Blaschke said.

Driver Gian Paul Cardona, of San Jose, remained held on suspicion of DUI causing bodily injury Tuesday at the Santa Cruz County Jail, according to county jail logs.

Investigators believe the car was traveling at high speed when it traveled onto the railroad trestle from the direction of Beach Street, Blaschke said. Blaschke said Cardona told police that he had spent the day with the woman at the beach and that they were headed home at the time of the crash.