A California father was killed in a crash as he taught his teen daughter how to drive on Memorial Day.
64-year-old James Politoski was reportedly teaching his 15-year-old girl to drive in an upper parking lot of a closed Gelson’s Market.
Police said the teen drove through a fence and fell down a 40-foot embankment, landing upside down on the sidewalk below Coast Highway.
“It appeared to be on a permitted driver, a 15-year-old female driver with her father out, essentially, in a driving lesson sort of situation,” Lt. Jesse Schmidt said.
“Gas pedal, brake pedal confusion, and tumbled over a 40-foot cliff on the Coast Highway.”
The teen reportedly had a valid driver’s permit. She suffered serious injuries while her father died at the scene.
“It is always difficult when an accident leads to the loss of life, especially under circumstances where a parent was simply trying to do the right thing by teaching their child a valuable life skill,” Schmidt said.
