A Santa Barbara city worker was killed just after midnight on Tuesday as he rode his bicycle along Cliff Drive. When officers arrived, they found 44-year-old Joshua Canning — a senior operator at the El Estero Wastewater Treatment Plant since 2005 — lying in the middle of the road about 100 feet east of the Flora Vista Drive intersection, said police spokesperson Sgt. Riley Harwood. He was declared dead at the scene.
Noting the investigation is ongoing, Harwood said it appears Canning was hit from behind as he rode in the left lane of westbound Cliff Drive. He was wearing dark clothing and didn’t have any lights on his bike, Harwood noted. The driver, from New York and behind the wheel of a rental car, didn’t have any alcohol in his system and was not impaired, Harwood said. He was not charged with any crimes.