An officer behind the wheel of a California Highway Patrol SUV hit and killed a pedestrian in Half Moon Bay Saturday night, according to the CHP, and investigators on Sunday were studying footage from the vehicle's dashboard camera to try to piece together what happened.
The officer was headed northbound on Highway 1 when "somehow he collided with the pedestrian," Officer Art Montiel with the CHP said. The collision took place just before 8:30 p.m. across the from Sam's Chowder House, he said.
The victim, a 74-year-old man from Burlingame, was headed to his car after a meal at the restaurant, the CHP said. No other details regarding the victim were available.
"Our vehicles are equipped with cameras, so that’s something that we’re going to be looking at to see what happened," Montiel said.
Tourists in the area said a lot of people unable to park in the restaurant parking lot or nearby were parking across the road and dodging highway traffic on foot to get to their destination.
"We're taking our lives into our own hands; it’s very hard to get across the street," Mary Baker said. "There's a constant line of traffic ever since we’ve arrived here." "It’s kind of crazy with the traffic," said Janet Albert. "It’s hard to cross streets, it’s hard to pull out, it’s hard to do anything. No parking anywhere."
A lack of light added to the hazardous scene. After the sun sets, it gets dark very quickly, as there are no streetlights in the immediate area.
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The officer as been temporarily pulled from patrol duty during the investigation, which is being handled by a Vallejo-based team, Montiel said.
