JB86
The identity of the bicyclist who died in a hit and run collision on Sunday has been released.
Katherine Stewert Peden, 59-years-old of Goleta, was pronounced dead at the scene after she was struck by a vehicle on Calle Real near Glen Annie Road.
The driver of the vehicle fled the scene and was tracked down that evening. Nicholas Todd Baker, 20-years-old of Goleta, was arrested for driving under the influence, involuntary vehicular manslaughter, and hit and run causing injury or death.
Update Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office
On Sunday, April 26, 2020 at 9:56 p.m., deputies responded with County Fire and American Medical Response to the area of Calle Real at Violet Lane on a report of a bicyclist that had been hit by a vehicle. The victim and the suspect were both travelling eastbound on Calle Real when the suspect’s vehicle struck the victim. The suspect left the area prior to deputies’ arrival and did not call for help or render aid to the victim. The victim was confirmed deceased prior to deputies’ arrival.
Deputies immediately began tracking the suspect and located his vehicle in the 900-blk of Camino Del Sur in Isla Vista around 10:35 p.m. The suspect, 20-year-old Nicholas Baker of Goleta, was contacted and later arrested for hit and run causing injury or death (felony), involuntary vehicular manslaughter (felony) and driving under the influence causing injury (felony). He was booked at the Main Jail with a bail of $1,000,000. The identity of the victim is being withheld pending notification to the family.
During the investigation of the hit-and-run, a section of Calle Real was closed to traffic. At 10:24 p.m., a patrol car that was parked at the west end of the scene was struck by another vehicle. The vehicle was not occupied when it was hit and no deputies were injured. California Highway Patrol was requested and responded to conduct the investigation of this second collision, allowing deputies to continue their investigation of the hit-and-run.
At approximately 10:00 pm, a female bicyclist was struck and killed in the east-bound lane of Calle Real at Violet Lane. The striking vehicle, later determined to be a 2003 black Chevy Tahoe, fled the scene. Deputies follwed a trail of leaking fluids to an address on Camino Del Sur in Isla Viste.
Meanwhile, at the accident scene, a Sheriff’s patrol vehicle, blocking the road at Baker Lane was struck by another vehicle, whose driver is suspected of being DUI. Hard closues were then established at Ellwood Station and Calaveras to allow investigation. The suspect driver was located by deputies at 10:46 in Isla Vista.
ACLU will do everything they possibly can to ensure this steaming turd gets a chance to murder again. For the ACLU, the sooner he gets out, the better they feel.
whoever played a role in helping a person with known mental problems and violent tendancies acquire a vehicle (either actively or by failing to prevent) will likely be sued for negligence, negligent entrustment, wrongful death, etc. depending on the specifics. victims family will definitely be contacting a junkyard dog of an attorney.
Ahh yes, those pesky “human rights”.
just an observation. ive noticed a lot more people speeding on surface streets and driving less than defensively since the onset of covid-19. not that it applies to this case, but i think people are unusually angry right now and it doesnt transfer well behind the wheel.
Not angry to me, but anxious and stressed , which can easily convert to anger. Some fellow senior at TJ’s on Saturday morning started yelling and waving his arms at me as I tried to get out of their parking lot, due to what I think was a minor rules violation. What are we going to do, hit each other with our N95 masks?
one could argue that the prolonged restricted oxygen supply of an n95 could lead to brain issues in many people 😉
1:11, your ACLU comment is really over the top. Hopefully you will never need to use the freedoms that their lawsuits try to ensure. But if you do, maybe you will see the light.
Good for you. I just never got over the ACLU defending NAMBLA back in the day.
Our Politically Correct world, forced on us over COMMON SENSE has led to these people being unleashed on society- Damn everyone, these people have RIGHTS!… Now look at the result and possibly the “results”, as I am sure he will be among us soon, once again.
Agreed completely, @GOLETAMAMA. That kid was something of a delinquent, I recall seeing him on his little cul-de-sac. I feel for his mother, but he had it coming sooner or later.
@ anonymous 11:47
He WAS “mentally ill and uncontrollable” by his family. He was a 20-year-old young man with mental health issues and self-medicating. He was also harmless until this. When he was younger, he was one of the sweetest, polite and charismatic kids. I was surprised that he was driving at all, that’s obviously not good. Who’s fault is it that this tragedy happened? Well, he is! This is also on our society and how we deal with the mentally ill. Don’t blame the overwhelmed parents of an adult or the cops who are handcuffed. This is so incredibly sad for these families. On a side note… That stretch of Calle Real needs to be made safer some how. I can’t tell you how many times I have almost hit someone pulling out suddenly.. People walking in the bike path the wrong way, bikes going the wrong way and no sidewalk for a bit. Also people either fly down Calle Real or go half the speed limit! I wouldn’t ride my bike on there much less at night , even IF I was fully lighted up and reflective.
@12:06
We need to get people like this help! That’s the problem! WTF
When people all around are seeing the clear signs of menace, something must be done to keep them under a watchful eye and those around them accountable. Take that POS John Dungan as another example. I hope both of these garbage humans rot in jail for the rest of their lives.
He was not “harmless until this”. Many of his neighbors over many years reported him to authorities for his threatening behavior and stalking.
This story is so gut wrenching. Leaving a dying women and running away to ostensibly avoid responsibility. Unreal.
Unreal on all accounts, even the cop car being hit. Imagine a 20 year old pretty much wrecking his future by drinking, driving, and killing. Condolences to the family and friends of the bicyclist.
Thank you for that comment. It’s true. I was harassed on Nextdoor for warning people about him. It made me feel horrible. I was not “judging” anything. Just reporting that he had been verbally abusive and physically threatening to me when I was walking my dogs. And you bet- I called the cops. Who wouldn’t? So I understand at some point in his life he was not as he was now. He was not violent and mentally challenged. That’s heartbreaking. I’m so sorry for the family. But we have a right to speak up when someone is violent and frightening. I’m tired of feeling like it’s politically incorrect for me to do so.
Jeezus! And just 4 days ago there was that incident on Baker lane, one block over. What is up with that area? So sad to hear, this is tragic!
Such a dangerous stretch of road for bicyclists and for pedestrians, especially between the 7-11 and Calaveras, and even in the daytime! Growing up in that area, my parents would get mad at me (out of concern for my safety) when they heard I rode my bike on that particular stretch. May her soul rest in peace.
Very sad. I lost an uncle to a drunk driver. I personally would not want to be on a bike at 10pm on a poorly lit frontage road.
Not reported here or in other local media (except Noozhawk): a bicyclist was hit by a car on Ontare at Foothill Rd in San Roque Thursday around 5pm. The intersection was cordoned off for 3 hours for a crime scene investigation. The victim was taken to Cottage with severe head injury. No word on condition.
“SB vehicular and pedestrian fatalities more than double that of COVID-related deaths this past week.”
Ginger – nice try, but you can’t compare vehicular and pedestrian fatalities to those by virus. We’re working hard to AVOID deaths by virus, no one is really staying off the roads to avoid deaths by car.
This was not an accident. Those of us living in this man’s neighborhood having been calling authorities about him for YEARS. He routinely harassed women and girls in the Brandon School neighborhood, trying to run us down with his bicycle, blocking our way on the sidewalk, and even stalking us in our own yards. His family claimed that he was mentally ill and uncontrollable while at the same time insisting he was not a threat to the public. When we learned a few months back that he had acquired a vehicle, we alerted the authorities once again, fearing that he would run someone over. Sadly and tragically, that has come to pass. Who bears the responsibility for this, I ask you?
I personally warned everyone about this man after being traumatized by him verbally on the street. I posted on Nextdoor, called the cops, personally emailed neighbors, told my kids off stay off his street. When he got a car I flipped out! I again called cops, neighbors, everyone I could think of since he was known to have, and seemed to me to have, mental illness with substance abuse issues. I warned he would kill someone with car, Many neighbors and friends will vouch for me.
You should document all of this information and provide it to the family of the victim. Armed with this, their attorney may have a strong civil case against the city/county. Only when they’re held accountable will they make an attempt to answer your/our pleas about dangerous individuals. This case reminds me of the 154 tragedy last year, where some kind of intervention might have saved some lives.
Way to blame to victim.
We made this system of laws so it is us, right? But if his family enabled his purchase of a car knowing about his mental health issues, then perhaps they have some liability. To hit a bicycle with an SUV hard enough to cause it to leak fluids is mind-boggling. I think about this every time I bike, that I am just a split second decision or indecision on the part of a driver from being in the hospital or worse.
11:44, Ginger’s point is well taken. Riding a bike is more deadly than the Covid-19 virus at least for this week in SB. Generally Edhat carries a story every week about a nasty bike vs car accident, and guess who ends up injured?
I never biked again in this town after (18 years ago at age 16) two bros in a huge lifted pick-up truck tried to deliberately run me off the road on W. Mission and then sucked a straw of Big Gulp up and sprayed it all over me out the window. I was so traumatized I never rode again except while living in Berlin where I felt it was exceptionally safe and biker-friendly.
This is seriously so awful. WE NEED TO LOCK PEOPLE LIKE THIS UP.
It’s not victim-blaming to state the obvious. It’s such a shame that it is not safe to bike here. But saying you avoid it because of risks is not victim-blaming. I avoid it here in SB (after my own traumatic experience almost 20 years ago). One can be both angry at drivers like this, and how not-actually-biker-friendly we are, AND say that one would not personally ride a bike here.
It doesn’t sound like this guy had a future. In fact, it sounds like he had been a menace to society for years but no one could do anything about it because the rights of the few outweigh the rights of the many. Until someone actually dies to prove a point and then finally authorities can act.
Wow, so sorry to hear this.
Is this the new normal? Police throw their “hands up” with no process/law that works legally for them, with no place these very seriously ill can go to be stabilized. Ashamed powerless families never handle it either. How did he get a car? Register it? This is also a” hit and run” political move:
HIT the police with impossible PC rules, a type of “handcuffs”, then blame them for not doing anything after many attempts by neighbors RUN: We now have “societal”mental illness–driven by “political correctness” and wrong beliefs about law enforcement’s capability . Then we RUN from our responsibility to support the police to fight this apathy. Even with neighbors FREQUENTLY reporting fears and clear issues with very seriously mentally ill people, there is no rational response plan in place? There can be NO response until it is a confirmed an assault, rape, death, DUI or a combination of crimes, even more costly result over time. Maybe some of these very disturbed people just get worse crying for help with their social-isolation, and becoming the harassers, bullies, criminals out of lack of care, and pushed over the edge by powerless of the police. Unable now to act and cease the offenders DUI/drug abuse, their anti-social behavior, and in many cases their chronic homelessness.
Every bike trip is a challenge greater than COVID 19 now, and giving both guns and cars to these folks seem to endorse allowing a gunned motor to act like a gun! Remember a UCSB driver plowing into students? We have serious “memory loss” when it comes to politically promised policies for new effective methods of observation and care. (Former and retired Mental Health professional)
If you don’t know the woman’s name, it’s because you are not in the need to know. It’s kind of vulture-y to be excited about finding out the name of the deceased. Just my opinion.
That is not true. They release the name after the next of kin has been notified.
Not too long ago an ACLU Attorney locally got DUIed in a pursuit of course it was swep[t under the rug quickly human right criminals.
2+ comments: 1)this is all predictable given all the high density “workforce” (think communist China) housing popping up everywhere: more people in a given area, more problems. 2)The tech companies were trying to do a PR push and touted SB as being bicycle friendly when they were trying to attract high quality workers from SF and other tech hubs. What a joke. SB is NOT bicycle friendly. And taking away lanes from our streets and turning them into bike lanes won’t help. The increasing amount of traffic will still be on the roads at some point during your bike trip due to the high density housing and increasing employee populations on the roads due to more lrg businesses coming into the area. Eventually they want to coax/force us all into public transportation, bikes and smart cities. I don’t like being forced to comply with their agenda until I see Cathy Murillo and the SB city council all on a bike everyday riding to and from work from their high density housing.
Your second point is valid, but your first is absolutely ludicrous.
Is this kid related to the man named Baker who worked for UCSB and was a constant thorn to them and to all of us on social media?
Have they released the name of the woman he hit?
Nothing vulture-y about seeing if this horrible event involves someone’s loved one, or for the community as a whole to grieve for the loss of a fellow citizen.
false BURGERS!?