This isn’t the news any of us wanted for Christmas.
The Ventura County Star is reporting that a 71-year old man was killed riding his bike in Simi Valley Friday night.
According to the paper, the victim, who has not been publicly identified, was riding on Royal Ave west of First Street when he was struck by the driver of an SUV around 7:10 pm.
He died at the scene.
There’s no word on how the crash occurred, or any factors that may had led to it.
While the driver wasn’t suspected of being under the influence, the paper bizarrely questions whether the victim was sober, without giving any reason to suspect he might not have been.
A preliminary investigation determined the driver of the SUV was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol but it was unclear if the bicyclist was sober.
This is the worst kind of victim blaming.
If this implication came from the police, the paper should make that clear, and explain why they suspect he might not have been sober.
If not, they should be ashamed of themselves.
Anyone with information is urged to call Simi Valley police accident investigators Laura Austin at 805/583-6183 or Cody Dee at 805/583-6224.
This is at least the 66th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the eighth that I’m aware of in Ventura County.
He was also the fourth SoCal bicyclist killed since Tuesday.
