Origami cranes decorate a memorial near where a Nobu restaurant chef was killed in a crash early Saturday morning in Malibu.
Ryo Uchimiya, 51, was sitting in his parked car down the street from the restaurant when the driver of a Range Rover crashed into his vehicle and two others along Pacific Coast Highway just before 7 a.m., according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
“He was asleep,” said former Malibu Mayor Jefferson Wagner, who visited the memorial to honor Uchimiya. “He was here early. He gets here early and takes a snooze and then goes to work on time.”
Authorities identified the driver of the Range Rover as a 16-year-old boy and said he survived the crash and did not appear to be under the influence. It’s unclear if he will face charges.
Wagner owns a surf shop across the street and provided a surveillance video from the store with NBC Los Angeles. It appears to show the Range Rover veering from the right lane toward the shoulder shortly before the collision.
“I’ve seen 10 fatalities in my occupation of that lease down there at the surf shop,” Wagner said. “Ten fatalities from the front door of my store now. Ten.”
Saturday’s crash follows the tragic PCH collision that killed four Pepperdine University students nearly three years ago. The driver in that crash is facing multiple counts of murder and vehicular manslaughter after prosecutors say his BMW veered into parked cars.
That deadly crash and several others renewed attention on safety issues along PCH — one of Southern California’s most iconic stretches of road, and one of the deadliest.
After some delays, the city of Malibu is set to begin a warning phase for new speed cameras along PCH next month in hopes of preventing crashes like these. The city said preliminary testing data resulted in about 100,000 speeding violations across four cameras in less than a month, from Sept. 16-24.
“Slowing this traffic down is the best attitude,” Wagner said. “Slow down. Get a better attitude. This is not a freeway.”
Dining and Cooking