A 36-year-old Santa Ynez man was killed Sunday evening in a solo motorcycle crash on Canada Este Road in the Santa Ynez Valley, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The rider, identified by the Santa Barbara County Coroner’s Office as Christopher Stewart, was traveling northbound on a 2016 Harley-Davidson just after 5:30 p.m. when the motorcycle ran off the west side of the roadway and struck a tree, California Highway Patrol officials said. Stewart, the sole rider, sustained fatal injuries at the scene.
The crash happened on a private road, and there were no witnesses — a passerby called it in, according to CHP Officer Arshdeep Dhanda. The cause remains under investigation, and Dhanda said the process “takes time to go through” and could take a couple of months.
Buellton CHP officers, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputies, and American Medical Response personnel responded to the crash. The cause remains under investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Buellton CHP office at (805) 691-6160.
