Santa Monica’s public safety employees have had a tragic and busy week including a deadly crash on the Pacific Coast Highway, a train vs. car accident on Colorado and the arrest of an individual connected to a year-old fatality also on the PCH.
The most severe incident occurred on Wednesday morning. A pedestrian entered the PCH for unknown reasons at about 5 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 23 where he was hit by a driver at about the 1100 block. The pedestrian died at the scene and the driver was not injured.
Officers said the driver was fully cooperating and the accident is still under investigation. Traffic throughout the city came to a grinding halt for most of the morning as cars were diverted away from the PCH.
Later that day, police officers and firefighters responded to an unrelated accident at 11th and Colorado.
According to SMPD a Prius made an illegal left turn from Colorado onto 11th at about 7:10 p.m. The car turned in front of a moving Expo train and triggered the collision. Firefighters, paramedics and police officers responded to the scene resulting in the closure of the intersection for more than an hour. No-one was injured in the accident and the scene was cleared at about 8:45 p.m.
In the third case, officers arrested Scott Miller on Aug. 21 for vehicular manslaughter in connection with a 2016 crash.
According to SMPD, Miller and a passenger were riding a motorcycle on the 1500 block of the PCH on Aug. 19 2016 when the bike hit a vehicle ejecting both riders. Officers determined the crashed was caused by the motorcycle swerving into the vehicle and while Miller survived, his passenger did not.
SMPD said there can be a significant delay in some cases due to the ongoing nature of an investigation and the ultimate decision by the District Attorney to pursue a case.
Officers are still seeking witnesses to the Aug. 23 accident. Anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact Investigator Jason Olson at (310) 458-8954, Lieutenant Cobarrubias at (310) 458-8445 or the Santa Monica Police Department at (310) 458-8495.
editor@www.smdp.com
