Teen falls to death off Mendocino Coast cliff

A teen who fell to his death last week on the northern Mendocino Coast has been identified as Matthew Ian McCoy, 19, of Clarksburg, West Virginia.

McCoy, his older brother and two friends were on a road trip, heading south on Highway 1 from Oregon, when they stopped just north of Westport at a pullout overlooking a beach, according to Mendocino County Sheriff’s Lt. Shannon Barney.

McCoy, an avid climber, decided to make his way down the rocky cliff rather than take a nearby path to the beach, Barney said. One of the friends was watching as a rock McCoy was grabbing gave way and he tumbled some 60 feet onto the rocks below. Barney said the coast has notoriously unstable soils and rocks that have led others to fall to their deaths over the years.

McCoy’s brother, 22, and a friend ran down the path while another went for medical assistance, he said.

When Westport fire officials arrived, they moved McCoy from the rocks to the beach to give medical aid, but he went into cardiac arrest and died, Barney said.

-Glenda Anderson