Teen Struck on Bicycle by Hit-and-Run Driver Charged with DUI

Second Incident in Less than a Week of Vehicle Striking a Juvenile Riding a Bike

A 14-year-old bicycle rider was rear-ended by a Dodge Ram truck, went under it, and was dragged 20 feet in downtown Santa Barbara on Saturday evening. | Credit: S.B. Police Department

A second hit-and-run involving a juvenile bicyclist in less than a week ended with another felony arrest on Saturday, according to a statement from Sergeant Ethan Ragsdale with the Santa Barbara Police Department. A previous hit-and-run involving a juvenile on a bicycle occurred just five days before on the Mesa.

In the early evening of August 7, officers and emergency personnel responded to several calls about an “injury hit and run traffic collision” that occurred near the intersection of Anacapa and East Ortega streets.

According to reports of witnesses on the scene, a maroon pickup truck rear-ended a 14-year-old bicyclist on Anacapa Street. The juvenile was then “ejected, rolled under the truck, and dragged approximately 20 feet.” The driver of the truck allegedly failed to stop and fled the scene. The juvenile victim was transported to Cottage Hospital for medical treatment of moderate injuries.

Multiple witnesses who observed this collision reportedly chased the truck, one of them on a motorcycle. Officers were able to obtain a description and license plate number based on information witnesses provided and responded to a location on East Ortega Street where the suspect, 23-year-old Santa Barbara resident Miguel Angel Gonzalez, was believed to be.

After locating Gonzalez’s vehicle parked nearby, the officers found the maroon pickup truck had fresh collision damage on the front bumper consistent with a vehicle and bicycle collision.

Officers contacted Gonzalez, who was sleeping in the garage of a home on East Ortega. Gonzalez showed signs of alcohol intoxication, and after field sobriety tests were conducted, it was determined he was under the influence of alcohol and was arrested. His vehicle was impounded.

Gonzalez was booked in the Santa Barbara County Jail for felony hit-and-run with injury and driving under the influence causing injury with a bail of $100,000.

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