Ex-Cal Poly student gets jail time for campus hit-and-run crash that injured 2 pedestrians
A former Cal Poly student who crashed his vehicle into two pedestrians in front of the University Union building and fled the scene was sentenced to eight months in jail after accepting a plea agreement with San Luis Obispo County prosecutors.
Corban Kinloch, who now resides in Pullman, Washington, after receiving a four-year suspension from the university, pleaded no contest in August to a felony count of hit and run resulting in injury for the Jan. 18 collision, which was captured on video.
Under the terms of his plea, a second felony count was dismissed and he was to serve no more than one year in San Luis Obispo County Jail.
On Wednesday, Kinloch appeared at his sentencing hearing in San Luis Obispo Superior Court with his attorney, Orange County-based Matthew B. Wallin, remotely via Zoom conference.
Superior Court Judge Jacquelyn Duffy sentenced Kinloch to three years of formal probation and 240 days in San Luis Obispo County Jail with two days of time-served credit. He is likely to serve about half that time due to automatic state credits, according to court records.
He is not scheduled to turn himself in to the jail until February 2021.
A dramatic livestream video at Cal Poly captured the crash that sent two pedestrians to the hospital after they were hit in a crosswalk by a car that then continued without stopping.
The livestream from Cal Poly’s Vista Grande Dining Complex construction project, first published by Mustang News, shows two pedestrians enter a crosswalk on Grand Avenue. An oncoming vehicle then slams into them, sending the pair careening off the front passenger side of the car, the video shows.
After the collision, the car keeps driving toward the center of campus, the video shows. It does not appear to slow down.
Police investigated and identified Kinloch, who was at the time a biochemistry student from Yakima, Washington, as the suspected hit-and-run driver. He booked into San Luis Obispo County Jail on suspicion of hit-and-run and released two days later after posting $50,000 bail, court records show.
Hit-and-run driver: Crash ‘completely changed my life’
On Wednesday, Duffy heard a victim impact statement submitted to the court from the victims in the case. Kinloch also read a statement to the court, which his attorney provided to The Tribune.
“My behavior on Jan. 18, 2020, was unacceptable. I still have nightmares about it,” Kinloch said. “My entire life has been devoted to service for others. The fact that I drove away and lied about it still haunts me.”
He said that he was suspended from Cal Poly for four years following the incident, and has returned to Washington state to continue his studies to become a pediatrician.
Kinloch said he was “ecstatic” to learn that the victims in the crash survived and were recovering from their injuries, and that the incident has “completely changed my life.”
Following the collision, Kinloch said he was told to step down from his position as a second-year resident advisor at Cal Poly.
After his suspension, he had to transfer to a “less-prestigious university in my home state of Washington because it was the only university to accept me after the incident,” he said.
He told the judge he’s made a personal decision to “take a break” from driving, “to make sure I respect the responsibility when I get behind the steering wheel again.”
“This will never happen again,” he said.
A restitution hearing is scheduled for December.
