The Region - News from June 19, 1987

A 17-month-old boy, alone in the passenger seat of his mother’s car, survived a 75-foot plunge over a Dana Point cliff, the California Highway Patrol said. Nathan Longdon suffered a skull fracture and was in fair condition at Mission Community Hospital in Mission Viejo. The infant’s mother, Jai Longdon, told officers she had parked the car with the engine idling on a Dana Point residential street and did not put the emergency brake on. Apparently the car, a 1973 Jaguar, slipped into gear as the mother stood on the sidewalk talking to a friend. As the car rolled away, the mother ran after it but could not stop it. The vehicle rolled down Aurelio Drive, through a plowed field and then over the cliff.