Pedestrian Killed in Santa Barbara Reckless Driving Hit-and-Run Incident
SANTA BARBARA, CA — October 12, 2026 – A reckless driver hit and killed a pedestrian and fled the scene before being apprehended.
On the night of October 10, a Santa Barbara police officer attempted to stop a vehicle
being driven recklessly on a busy downtown city thoroughfare. According to Santa
Barbara Police Department spokesman Lt. Antonio Montojo, the driver refused to stop
and entered Highway 101.
A pursuit was called off due to dangerous conditions.
A bystander later flagged down the officer near Mission Street and reported that
pedestrian had been struck in a crosswalk.
Emergency crews responded at approximately 10:10 p.m. to discover a 23-year-old
woman with critical injuries. American Medical Response personnel transported her to
Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Investigators soon determined that the vehicle involved in the fatal collision was the
same one that had fled from the earlier traffic stop.
Multiple freeway onramps and city streets were then closed for approximately nine
hours while investigators examined the scene; a short time later, California Highway
Patrol investigators identified and located the white Mercedes-Benz believed to have
been involved at the Santa Barbara residence of Leticia Parra De Gastelum, 45.
Contact was made with Gastelum; she was taken into custody and transported to Santa
Barbara County Jail where she was booked on multiple charges including felony hit-
and-run causing death, vehicular manslaughter and evading.
– by F. Scott Faulkner
