SDPD Looking for Hit and Run Driver

One bicycle rider may have been purposely hit in Balboa Park but not seriously injured just before 7PM last night. The incident occurred on Cabrillo Bridge (also referred to as Laurel Street Bridge), a shared pedestrian and automobile bridge with a posted speed limit of 15MPH. Just before the incident, witness Bruce Shank was riding westbound on the bridge when he noticed that, even though he was travelling at 17MPH, many drivers were passing him illegally by crossing over the double yellow-lines and using the lane belonging to oncoming traffic. The situation intensified when traffic increased in the eastbound lane, disabling westbound drivers from continuing to use the lane to pass the slower traveling riders.

Shank reports that after one driver was unable to pass a trio of other riders that were trailing Shank, the driver became irate and laid on his horn until they approached the end of the bridge at the stop sign on Balboa Drive. It was at this stop that one driver became confrontational, yelling at the riders to remove their bikes from the road. Shank responded to the situation by pointing out that the speed limit in this area is only 15MPH and that cyclists, no matter what the posted speed limit, have a right to using the full lane.

Realizing that the driver wanted only to quarrel and not to reason, the riders pulled away from the stop. According to other witnesses, as the driver passed the trio of riders, now behind Shank, he deliberately swerved to hit them with his vehicle. One rider out of the three was hit but sustained no serious injury besides scrapes and bruises. The driver then sped off, continuing down Laurel street, and reportedly turned left on 4th Avenue.

The suspect is described as a white male in his late 50s to early 60s. He was driving a silver Lexus with a California license plate number beginning with the digits 6DTG. If you have any further information regarding this case, please contact the SDPD at (619) 531-2000, citing incident #12090017542.