cyclist killed in hit-and-run in Los Altos Hills on August 22
 

From my club mailing list:

Riding on Purisma Rd ... we ran into a young man named
Angus handing out flyers at the corner of Concepcion Rd in Los Altos Hills.
They had a tent and signs with a Santa Clara County Sheriff sitting with
them. To our horror there was another fatal cycling accident that happened
there on a saturday at 2 pm on August 22. Angus's good friends father was
left for dead on the road by another hit and run driver. His name was Dave
Delgado, He was 54 years old and he took up cycling to relieve his pains of
losing his wife 8 years ago. He lived in Menlo Park. He was in Coma with
massive bleeding to the brain. He was hit from behind. They took him off
life support and put him on home hospice and he passed at his home on
Thursday. He is survived by two sons. This is another tragedy that should
not have happened. The word needs to get out to help these people.


We also passed this corner (Purissima at Concepcion) on our ride yesterday.
The sheriff's dept. is looking for any information on what might have
happened, because to date no witnesses have been found or come forward. If
you have any information on this tragedy they ask you to call Deputy Mike
Betti, (408) 868-6626 or the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Substation at
(408) 868-6600.

Sorry to hear.

This is my backyard for riding and was not aware ... Rest in Peace my friend ...

This news makes me so sad. How can people who do this live with themselves?

That poor family...I'll keep good thoughts for them.

There's not much lower scum than hit & run drivers. :mad:

RIP Dave :(

I ride there 2 -3 times a week and I was not aware of this. It is so sad and makes me angry that people can be so careless and irresponsible. I hope the culprit is caught and punished to the fullest extent of the law.

Just to follow up on this story, according to the Los Altos Town Crier, a witness stepped forward and reported to police that Dave Delgado sped across the intersection of Purissima and Concepcion and veered off the road. Police concluded that no automobile was involved in the crash.

The local coverage of the accident by the Crier prompted a fair bit of anti-cyclist and anti-motorist sentiment on the normally sedate discussion boards on the newspaper's site (plus some accusations of inaccurate reporting and bias). This resulted an editorial in this week's Crier, titled "Not Jumping to Conclusions", that admitted to helping to fan the flames and called for more civilized discourse and better road sharing between cyclists and motorists:

BTW, I tried to post direct links, but don't have sufficient permissions yet. The two stories (September 2nd and 9th) and the editorial (September 16th) are up on the Crier site for those who might be interested (search on Delgado). I'm not sure if the current online versions of the story materially differ from the original printed versions.

Rest in peace, Dave, and my condolences to the Delgado family and friends.

I haven't ridden that area before, but based on Google Earth, it seems that's a T-intersection...and it seems relatively level. Which direction was he going that caused him to veered off the road? What kind of injuries/damages were there to conclude that he was hit from behind? Unless he was distracted by something, I don't know why he would veered off the road. Was an autopsy performed to determine the cause of death? Just wonder what caused the massive bleeding to his brain (like did he have a heart attack that caused him to crash?).

The "sped across the intersection" explanation makes little sense.

Concepcion Road is a long steady uphill leading to a stop sign at the T-intersection with Purissima. If he was going that way, are they trying to say that he flew up the hill and through the intersection and crashed off the road on the opposite side? My average speed going up that hill is less than 10mph.

Purissima has no stop sign, so "sped across the intersection" is misleading at best if he was going that way. I have never seen a bicyclist going faster than the speed limit on that street.

This is sad. It's dangerous out there with some of these people behind the wheel(some who don't even have a driver's license.

All I can say is, it's hard to make sense of things like this. Some people just don't have any kind of value system or decency.

I've seen intersections where a bit of gravel/sand builds up in a spot. I wonder if he hit something like that and lost it, even at a lower speed. The thing that puzzles is; why didn't this witness stop and check on him, and call the police?

Mysterious witness = convenient way to close the case. Some things just don't add up.

Enraging. RIP.

Thanks for the updated information - this is my home town...

FYI - here are the direct links to the full story in the LATC:

Residents outraged over fatal bike acciden, 2 September 2009
http://www.losaltosonline.com/index....8777&Itemid=46

Bicyclist dies after accident in Los Altos Hills, 9 September 2009
http://www.losaltosonline.com/index....8841&Itemid=46

Not jumping to conclusions, 16 September 2009
http://www.losaltosonline.com/index....8896&Itemid=55

From the comments section of the LATC article that was published on September 9th ...