More information on the accident is included in this account in the S.D. North County Times -
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/05/23/news/top_stories/28_40_397_22_07.txtThe relevant paragraphs:
The men told officers that Payne had just teed off from the second hole on the facility's southern 18-hole course, but he lost his first ball, which went off into the brush, Kerns said. He was unable to locate the ball, so he hit another one and was headed toward his friends who were ahead of him, he said.
His friends told officers that Payne got back into the electric golf cart that was parked on the grass and went to get on a concrete path, Kern said.
"As his golf cart traveled off the lawn area and onto the concrete cart path in a southerly direction, the golf cart began to bounce around. It appeared that he lost control of the cart as it veered over the east curb of the cart path and down an embankment where it eventually went off a sheer cliff," Kerns said.
The cart jumped the concrete path's 6-inch curb and first went 30 feet down a slope with brush and trees, then over the cliff, the officer said.
The electric cart was governed for 12 mph