Drunk Driver Hits Utility Pole in Santa Barbara

By on August 29, 2012 in News, Sharon Byrne

Report by Sharon Byrne
A drunk driver sped away from the bar district Tuesday night into west Downtown at 1:30 am. They struck this pole, pictured left, at high speed after running through the stop sign. They backed up, the car front end seriously damaged, sped down into the Gutierrez dead-end, turned around and drove to the highway on ramp. Several neighbors called the Santa Barbara Police Department.

About Sharon Byrne

About Sharon Byrne Sharon Byrne found herself unwittingly thrust into municipal and political issues when she took a sabbatical from her corporate career, and moved to West Downtown in late 2008, a neighborhood in serious decay. She helped engineer a major turnaround there working with engaged neighborhood women. She served on the Franklin Neighborhood Center Advisory Committee, and the Neighborhood Advisory Council. She is the executive director for the Milpas Community Association, and currently serves on the Advisory Boards for the Salvation Army Hospitality House and Santa Barbara County Alcohol and Drug Problems. She is a former Deputy Director of Common Cause in California, and has worked on several ballot initiatives locally and at the state level. Her education in engineering and psychology gives her an unusual mix of skills for working on quality-of-life, public safety, and public policy issues.
View all posts by Sharon Byrne →

8 Responses to Drunk Driver Hits Utility Pole in Santa Barbara

  1. Anonymous August 29, 2012 at 1:40 pm #

    Holy buckets!

    Reply
  2. el_smurfo August 29, 2012 at 1:51 pm #

    You should be careful posting iPhone images on the web. Some creepy troll might extract the GPS coordinates:

    34 24.8′N 119 41.8′ W

    https://maps.google.com/maps?q=34+24.8'N+119+41.8'+W&hl=en&ll=34.412805,-119.696023&spn=0.005815,0.008047&sll=34.413421,-119.696789&layer=c&cbp=13,197.87,,0,-7.92&cbll=34.413705,-119.696438&t=m&z=17&panoid=ysqV7tbeXsvRE9Cw7b-e9w

    Reply
  3. Anon August 29, 2012 at 2:50 pm #

    Was it a blue sedan like a corrola or similar? I was on my way to Santa Maria this morning on the 154 and CHP was pulled up behind a blue car with a damaged front end that appeared as though it could have been caused by a pole. It looked like the car had been abandoned.

    Reply
  4. Anonymous August 29, 2012 at 4:09 pm #

    so what?

    Reply
  5. Sharon Byrne August 29, 2012 at 4:29 pm #

    It was indeed a blue sedan. Glad to hear they caught him! The city public works crew has been out there working on it all day.

    Reply
  6. Boycott Boy August 29, 2012 at 5:40 pm #

    Was it Amanda Byne night at the Wild Cat?

    Reply
  7. anon. August 29, 2012 at 8:27 pm #

    Is the SBView competing with Edhat now? Roger the Dodger had a play-by-play of the chase last night (what were school kids doing up at 11 pm which is when I was walking the dog – what was I doing up walking the dog then?!) but I don’t think they had the telephone pole, ‘though it’s their kind of thang.

    Reply
  8. Anonymous August 29, 2012 at 10:51 pm #

    Cat Cora out again!

    Reply

Leave a Reply