On Friday just after 10 p.m., a 23-year-old woman was killed in a hit-and-run on Mission Street at the northbound Highway 101 on-ramp. She was walking in the crosswalk when a white Mercedes-Benz C43 hit her and fled the scene.
Santa Barbara Police Department officers located the vehicle parked about two hours later in Santa Barbara, and arrested 45-year-old housekeeper Leticia Parra De Gastelum as a suspect in the incident. She has been booked into Santa Barbara County’s Main Jail, where she is being held on $50,000 bail.
Just before the hit-and-run, an SBPD officer observed the Mercedes being driven recklessly on West Carrillo Street at approximately 10:09 p.m. and attempted to pull the vehicle over. The driver did not stop, fled the scene “at a high rate of speed,” and got on Highway 101, according to SPBD Lt. Antonio Montojo. The officer did not follow “due to the dangerous manner in which the vehicle was being operated.”
Just moments later, the same SPBD officer was then notified of a hit-and-run at the Mission Street on-ramp, about 10 blocks from where the Mercedes was first noticed. The officer responded to the scene and immediately started rendering aid to the injured pedestrian, before AMR paramedics arrived on scene. The 23-year-old victim was transported to Cottage Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
It was later determined that the vehicle in the hit-and-run and the Mercedes that the SBPD officer attempted to stop were the same vehicle.
Both the on- and off-ramps at Mission Street, as well as underneath the highway bridge were closed for about nine hours while evidence was gathered and the scene was cleared. Regular traffic patterns resumed as of Saturday morning.
California Highway Patrol is actively conducting an investigation of the incident and is withholding the name of the victim while her next of kin are notified. Investigators have not determined whether drugs or alcohol were involved at this time. The agency is requesting that anyone who may know something about the incident to contact investigating Officer Arevalo by calling CHP’s Santa Barbara Area Office at (805) 770-4800.
