On Friday just after 10 p.m., a 23-year-old woman was killed in a hit-and-run on Mission Street at the northbound Highway 101 on-ramp. She was walking in the crosswalk when a white Mercedes-Benz C43 hit her and fled the scene.
Santa Barbara Police Department officers located the vehicle parked about two hours later in Santa Barbara, and arrested 45-year-old housekeeper Leticia Parra De Gastelum as a suspect in the incident. She has been booked into Santa Barbara County’s Main Jail, where she is being held on $50,000 bail.
Just before the hit-and-run, an SBPD officer observed the Mercedes being driven recklessly on West Carrillo Street at approximately 10:09 p.m. and attempted to pull the vehicle over. The driver did not stop, fled the scene “at a high rate of speed,” and got on Highway 101, according to SPBD Lt. Antonio Montojo. The officer did not follow “due to the dangerous manner in which the vehicle was being operated.”…