Photo: Michael Maurice Moore
October 20, 2021 – Santa Barbara County, Ca.
One of the very first things new California drivers are taught in both the California Department
of Motor Vehicles Driver Handbook and by in-person driving instructors is that it is absolutely
frowned upon to run over pedestrians with your car.
Doing so is more than bad driver’setiquette; it’s a serious violation of the law. The only thing worse, in fact, is running a pedestrian over and then driving away as though nothing has happened.
According to Lompoc Police Department spokesman Sgt. Scott Morgan, however, that is exactlywhat Lompoc resident 51-year-old Michael Maurice Moore did at approximately 7:00 p.m. on the night of October 19 th . It was shortly thereafter that Lompoc PD dispatchers received a witness report that “a pedestrian had been hit by a vehicle,” which brought patrol units and an ambulance to the scene with all due alacrity.
The cops found “a 65-year-old pedestrian down” and no sign of the vehicle which reportedly struck the victim. The victim, “in serious condition,” was evacuated from the scene via helicopter and transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital for treatment.
Police investigators at the scene gained access to “area surveillance cameras,” enabling them to “identify the vehicle and the direction in which it traveled” following the impact with the victim.
That vehicle was located “several hours later at a local motel” just as additional surveillance video made the identification of Moore as the driver at the time of the accident.
Contact with Moore was promptly made and he was taken into custody. He was then transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where he was booked on a felony charge of fleeing the scene of an injury traffic collision.
Photo: Courtesy Lompoc Police Department
