UPS driver ejected from truck found safe in Concord

LAFAYETTE, Calif. (KGO) -- A UPS truck plunged 40 feet off a Bay Area road Wednesday. The driver, identified as 34-year-old Dennis Salazar, was found safe in Concord after missing for several hours.

Authorities were afraid Salazar may have been injured. He went off Hunsaker Canyon Road in lafayette just after 5 p.m. Wednesday evening. The driver called 911 himself to report the accident.

"He reported he had been injured in the collision, then shortly after that we lost the cellphone signal," said Lafayette Police Chief Eric Christensen. "So either his phone died, or it turned off or something happened with the phone."

Police say it's not unusual for people in collisions to self-rescue and walk away, but residents did not report seeing him and his UPS supervisors hadn't heard from him either.

Fairfield police even knocked on his door at home and -- nothing.

To make sure he wasn't stuck in the wooded hillside somewhere, dozens of search and rescue personnel and a dog were dispatched to look for him.

"Once you get off the pavement here, it's open space and hilly -- so very steep," said Search and Rescue Coordinator Rick Kovar. "They got ropes out there, they got night vision out there. The main thing is that it's just really hard to see."

Authorities got confirmation shortly before 11 p.m. Wednesday that Salazar was found safe at his friend's home in Concord. He was taken into police custody to be evaluated.