Juan Aguilar Perez, 56, was arrested early Friday morning for the hit-and-run death of 88-year-old Santa Barbara resident Miguel Gutierrez-Vargas. Just before 6 a.m. Thursday morning, Gutierrez-Vargas was struck by a vehicle while walking across San Lorenzo Drive east of San Felipe Drive in a neighborhood near Goleta. He died that night at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
A witness who called 9-1-1 just after the crash reported seeing a maroon Chevrolet truck flee the scene via Andy Lane, according to a Thursday California Highway Patrol (CHP) press release. In a Friday press release, CHP spokesperson Jonathan Gutierrez said Perez was arrested at about 6:30 a.m. at San Lorenzo and San Ricardo drives, just one block away from the site of the crash.
Perez, whom the CHP alleges hit Gutierrez-Vargas in a blue Silverado Chevrolet, was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail for manslaughter and hit-and-run charges. His bail was set at $50,000.