Photo: scene of accident
December 2, 2021 – Santa Barbara, Ca.
One of the older downtown cities in California, Santa Barbara has its share of narrow thoroughfares poorly designed for high-speed vehicular travel; trucks often have to pull to the curb to allow oncoming traffic to pass.
But neither traffic patterns nor street design appears to be the reason an SUV driven by 48- year-old Santa Barbara resident Raul A. Gonzalez slammed into the rear of a motorcycle being ridden by 78-year-old Kenneth Sterling Sr. on the afternoon of November 27 th.
According to Santa Barbara Police Department spokesman Sgt. Ethan Ragsdale, responding patrol units found Sterling deceased “about 85 feet from his motorcycle.”
The ensuing investigation indicated that Gonzalez, “driving a Jeep SUV heading south rear- ended the motorcycle” and threw Sterling Sr onto the roadway before slamming into a pickup truck parked at curbside. The impact was of such force that it “caused the riderless motorcycle to careen half a city block before colliding with a parked Toyota sedan.”
Field investigation indicated that Gonzalez was under the influence of drugs or alcohol,” whereupon he was taken into custody and transported to Santa Barbara County Jail. He was booked on charges of felony vehicular manslaughter causing injury or death and felony DUI causing injury or death, with his bail set at $1,000,000.
Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara Police Department
