It’s happened yet again.
Another hit-and-run, another dead cyclist in North San Diego County, only a few miles from where Jim Swarzman was killed in April.
This time, though, the alleged drunk driver was found before she had time to sober up, hiding in some bushes near where her car was found.
According to multiple reports, 64-year old Arthur John Jacobs of Vista was riding southbound near the intersection of El Camino Real and Cassia Street around 9:45 pm last night when he was hit by a vehicle allegedly driven by 23-year old Julianne Elyse Thompson. A witness reportedly told police that Thompson’s vehicle hit the curb and some bushes, then sped off into the nearby Villa Loma apartment complex.
When police arrived, they found Jacobs lying in the street; he was pronounced dead at the scene.
After a brief search, Thompson was found hiding in the bushes near where her vehicle, which has not been publicly identified, had been abandoned. She was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, felony hit-and-run drunk driving.
This is the 43rd confirmed traffic-related cycling fatality so far this year, and the 10th in San Diego County; one other cyclist was killed in a shooting this year. It is also the third fatal hit-and-run death of a cyclist in SDC this year, and the second in which the driver was known to be intoxicated.
Thanks to David Huntsman for the heads-up.
When you say: “This is the 43rd confirmed traffic-related cycling fatality so far this year,” do you mean in the nation? in Southern California?
Sorry. That should have read “…43rd confirmed traffic-related fatality in Southern California this year….”
And by Southern California, I mean the seven county region from Ventura County east to San Bernardino County, and south to the border.