A person was killed riding a bicycle in Newport Beach late Saturday night.
And for some reason, the Newport Beach Police Department refuses to release any details.
OnScene.TV is reporting that police received a call about a traffic collision at San Joaquin Hills Road and Newport Ridge Drive West at the entrance to the gated Newport Ridge community around 11:21 pm Saturday.
Raw video from the scene shows a very badly mangled bicycle, several hundred feet from what appears to be a man’s shoe. Assuming that it belonged to the victim, which is not clear from the video, it implies he or she was struck at an extremely high rate of speed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWhy_UQee9g
The video also shows two vehicles inside the police tape, an older Honda Insight with visible damage and a Toyota SUV. That could suggest that the person on the bicycle was collateral damage in a crash between the two drivers, or that one of the drivers hit the victim while street racing.
A street view shows a gently curving four lane road on San Joaquin Road with a bike lane in each direction, and a 55 mph speed limit — a deadly configuration far too common in Orange County.
But again, we have too little information right now to know what really happened.
Hopefully we’ll learn more in the morning.
This is at least the 12th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fifth that I’m aware of in Orange County since the start of the year.
Update: Unfortunately, there’s still no official confirmation of the crash, or any information about the victim.
However, the Orange County coroner posted this announcement, which lines up with the city and time of the crash.
But again no guarantee she was the victim of this crash.
Update 2: A Newport Beach website has confirmed that Aubrye Foote was killed in the collision. Her Facebook page identifies her as a loving mother and the owner of a local business.
However, unconfirmed reports suggest that Foote may have been driving a vehicle, and was killed when she got out of her car after a teenage boy was struck while riding his bike.
I’m also told the unidentified victim on the bike was killed, as well.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Audrey Foote and the other victim, as well as their loved ones.
Thanks to Bill Sellin for his work on this story.
