23-year-old dies after falling 50 feet from bluff onto California beach, officials say

Daniella Segura
·2 min read
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A man died after falling 50 feet from a California bluff onto a beach, officials say.

The man, identified by the coroner’s office as Jacob William Aladar Parker, 23, of San Diego, climbed a fence before his accidental fall in Isla Vista, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said April 22 on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Parker attended Santa Barbara City College before graduating from University of California, Santa Barbara last year, his LinkedIn page shows.

“Jake’s future was limitless,” a GoFundMe page says. “This wound may never heal, and we refuse to let his memory diminish over time.”

Parker’s death is now renewing calls for cliff safety in Isla Vista, which neighbors UCSB.

A man died after falling 50 feet from a California bluff onto a beach, fire officials say.
A man died after falling 50 feet from a California bluff onto a beach, fire officials say.

In September, a 19-year-old also fell to his death from the cliffs, spurring a countywide effort, spearheaded by county Supervisor Laura Capps’, to improve cliff safety in the area, the Santa Barbara Independent reported.

“This tragedy is a stark reminder of how dangerous these bluff top properties are,” Capps wrote in an April 21 Facebook post. “Property owners: this is an urgent plea to do what’s right to help save lives. We all need to step up and make Isla Vista safer now.”

Prior to Parker’s death, 14 people were known to have died in cliff accidents since 1994, prompting county officials to vote in November to raise the fences along the beach cliffs from 4 to 6 feet, Bay Area News Group reported.

The county also voted to waive permitting fees to “incentivize private property owners to upgrade their fences along Del Playa,” the Santa Barbara Independent reported.

“(Parker’s death) just further emphasizes the need for higher fences,” Spencer Brandt, director of Isla Vista Community Services District, told the newspaper. “Simply put, people can’t climb over higher fences.”

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