Photo of the scene from @Waltarrrrr
Update: The victim has been identified as Jocelyn Young, a resident of Portland and a graduate of the University of Oregon; famed bike builder Gary Fisher reports she was the girlfriend of his son’s best friend.
You knew it wouldn’t last.
A remarkable stretch of nearly a full month without a Southern California bicycling fatality ended early Sunday morning when an Alhambra man allegedly fled the scene after running over a cyclist in Pasadena.
The Pasadena Sun reports that a 24-year old Oregon woman, who has not been publicly identified, was riding with her boyfriend on a 200 block of Los Robles Avenue near Cordova Street when she fell off her bike.
According to the Pasadena Star-News, she was then run over by a vehicle allegedly driven by 21-year old Nicholas Avila, who fled the scene. A witness followed him to his home, where he was arrested on suspicion of felony drunk driving; at last report, Avila was being held on $100,000 bond.
The victim was transported to Huntington Memorial Hospital, where she died of her injuries.
This is the first reported bicycling fatality anywhere in Southern California since Enrique Bautista was killed in South L.A. on August 23rd in yet another hit-and-run; no word on whether a suspect has been identified.
This is the 51st confirmed traffic-related fatality in Southern California this year, and the 17th in the County of Los Angeles. Five of the L.A. County fatalities, and 11 of the overall SoCal total, have been hit-and-runs.
Update: Douglas Wade emailed this morning to let us know that Nathan “Bud” Tippee of Valencia has died of the injuries he received when a car went out of control following a Lancaster collision, and struck him and his wife while they participated in a group ride. She was less severely injured.
Unfortunately, I can’t find any confirmation of Tippee’s death online, but that’s not unusual; the press often fails to follow-up in cases like this.
That raises the total of traffic-related cycling fatalities in L.A. County to 18, and 52 in the greater Southern California area.
This hit and run must have been the one Gary Fisher tweeted about yesterday. So sad.
@Gary_Fisher
My son’s best friend’s 23 yr old girlfriend was run down and killed yesterday in LA, hit and run, driver was caught.
According to the LA County Sheriff’s inmate locator page, Avila was released yesterday around 4:30pm. No other info available yet.