UPDATE: Fairview Hit-and-Run Suspect Sought

[UPDATE: 2:18 p.m.]: A 91-year-old Goleta resident called the Sheriff’s Office Thursday morning to say he was the driver who hit the 14-year-old bicyclist Tuesday morning at the Fairview and Cathedral Oaks intersection.

“He claimed after the incident happened he stopped to check on the teenager but was unaware he needed to stay on scene to provide his information,” said Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Kelly Hoover in a prepared statement. The District Attorney’s Office will review the case, in which authorities are recommending a felony hit-and-run charge.

[Original Story]: Biking to school Tuesday morning, a 14-year-old boy was hit by a white Chevrolet Impala in the North Fairview Avenue and Cathedral Oaks Road intersection, where he was ultimately left for dead. Authorities are now calling on the public to help identify the Impala’s driver, described as a white or Asian man in his sixties with thinning white hair and a slender build at just under 6-feet tall, said Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Kelly Hoover in a prepared statement.

The teen boy was thrown onto the hood of the older Impala model and then onto the road. The suspect, clad in round sunglasses, stopped for a moment “but then fled the scene prior to emergency personnel arriving,” said Hoover. He made no effort to give his information to anyone on scene, as state law requires, and was last seen driving south on Fairview Avenue.

Although paramedics responded, a family member drove the teen to a local hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries. “Fortunately, he is expected to make a full recovery,” added Hoover in the press release. She added the Impala — possibly an early 2000s model — was decorated with the Impala logo on its rear and may have suffered minor hood damage.

People with information on the crime are urged to call the Sheriff’s Office at (805) 681-4100, deputy Thomas Green of the Goleta Traffic Unit at (805) 961-7518, or the anonymous tip line at (805) 681-4171.