New information about the Hart family’s SUV’s fatal final trip was revealed Thursday morning, on the second and final day of a coroner’s inquest into the deaths of Jennifer and Sarah Hart and their six children, ages 12 to 19.

Investigators had previously, and it turns out erroneously, said that Jennifer Hart drove the family’s GMC Yukon off the cliff at 90 miles per hour. In fact, she accelerated to just 20 miles per hour, California Highway Patrol Officer Timothy Roloff testified Thursday. That took her three seconds from a standing stop near the cliff, and she pressed the gas pedal to 100 percent throttle, he said.

He based that assessment on an expert analysis of the SUV’s internal air bag-deploying computer which is akin to an airplane’s “black box.”

Roloff testified in great detail and said all the evidence his team discovered was “consistent with this being an intentional act.”

When driving with your family near a cliff, he asked, “How often do you apply 100 percent throttle?”

First responders said water that collected in the wheel well was much warmer than the sea itself, indicating it had been there for some time. — Molly Young (@mollykyoung) April 4, 2019

The vehicle data showed the SUV reached about 20 mph before launching off the cliff, the officer said. — Molly Young (@mollykyoung) April 4, 2019

The California Highway Patrol realized that children were missing the day after the crash after finding an @Oregonian story about the 2014 viral photo of Devonte Hart, Officer Jake Slates said. — Molly Young (@mollykyoung) April 4, 2019

-- Molly Young

@mollykyoung

myoung@oregonian.com