[Update 1:50 p.m.] The driver in Friday-morning's fatal head-on collision, 22-year-old Goleta man Kyle Nelson, has been arrested for gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, according to a statement from Buellton CHP officer Gabe Rodriguez. Rodriguez noted that charges are pending a toxicology report.
[Original Story] Two fatal crashes less than 12 hours apart in Santa Barbara County left three dead and another hospitalized, according to California Highway Patrol reports on Thursday and Friday.
In the first incident, a 68-year-old man was killed after overturning his Chevy Silverado pickup off the 154 just east of Zaca Station Road on Thursday afternoon. According to a report from Buellton CHP officer Michael Griffith, the man was driving eastbound on the highway around 4 p.m. when, “for unknown reasons,” he stopped on the southbound shoulder, allowed his truck to “travel down a steep dirt embankment,” through a dirt field, and eventually into a metal guardrail.