State Street Accident Rider Identified

[UPDATE] Santa Barbara Police reported on March 17 that Ken Saks died shortly after being removed from life support.

[ORIGINAL STORY]

A motorcycle accident at State and Carrillo streets last Friday landed a man recently identified as Ken “Levi” Livingston Saks in the hospital with “substantial internal injuries,” Sergeant Joshua Morton of the Police Department said. Well-known in Santa Barbara as a Vietnam vet who had lost his legs to complications of Agent Orange exposure, Saks had turned from Carrillo Street onto State but apparently lost control of his tri-wheeled bike and ended up on the sidewalk. He collided with a tree and stone bench in front of Saks Off 5th, Morton said, and passersby helped him out from beneath the trike.

The police Critical Reconstruction Team closed the block for a time the afternoon of March 3, but information on how the single-vehicle accident occurred is not yet available, Morton said. Saks, who is 70 years old, remains in the hospital.