Update: Driver arrested after 2 SLO County crashes; passersby help injured cyclist
Update, 11:15 a.m.:
Five to seven drivers pulled over Tuesday morning when they saw a man bleeding on the side of Los Osos Valley Road next to a bicycle with a missing front tire and bike pedal, a witness said.
San Luis Obispo resident Ashley Gomes said she was on her way home from Los Osos when she saw a small group of people next to a bleeding man. She pulled over and immediately called 911, she said.
The CHP identified the victim of the alleged hit-and-run Wednesday as 66-year-old Los Osos resident Robert Conlen.
Gomes said when she approached Conlen and the group of people helping him, he appeared unconscious and was losing a lot of blood.
“There was blood all over the ground,” Gomes said. “There was a giant laceration in his calf, it was ripped open. It looked like his leg was almost taken off.”
Gomes said most of the people who stopped didn’t witness what happened, but one man shared that he saw a small gray car hit the bicyclist in the bike lane and continued driving.
Gomes called 911 again to relay the information and began looking for any evidence of a potential hit-and-run.
The San Luis Obispo woman said she found a side view mirror with gray paneling a few feet from the roadside in the grass. A few feet from that was Conlen’s left bike pedal, she said.
“He lost his bike pedal, he lost his front wheel, and it looks like he went down really hard,” Gomes said.
According to Gomes, Conlen regained consciousness before emergency services arrived. She said one of the women who pulled over to help was in the medical field and began providing medical aid.
“It was a real big relief to all of us who were there,” Gomes said before thanking paramedics who responded to the scene.
Original story:
The driver of a hit-and-run crash on Los Osos Valley Road on Tuesday morning was arrested on the scene of a second crash within 15 minutes of the first collision.
According to the California Highway Patrol, San Luis Obispo resident Erin Aversano, 49, was driving eastbound on Los Osos Valley Road in a 2020 Hyundai Elantra at around 10:54 a.m. when she began driving in the bicycle lane.
Robert Conlen, 66, of Los Osos was riding his bicycle in the bike lane along the eastbound lane of Los Osos Valley Road, near Sombrero Drive in Los Osos when Aversano’s car sideswiped him and flung him from his bike, according to the CHP.
Aversano fled the scene toward San Luis Obispo, according to the CHP.
Conlen was transported to Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center in San Luis Obispo for a severe fracture in his left leg, the CHP reported.
But the alleged hit-and-run driver did not get very far.
Aversano was arrested on the scene of another crash in San Luis Obispo near the intersection of Santa Rosa Street and Highland Drive, according to the CHP.
According to PulsePoint, the San Luis Obispo City Fire Department responded to the crash near Cal Poly’s entrance around 11:06 a.m.
The CHP said the San Luis Obispo Police Department is investigating the second crash. Aversano’s alleged involvement in the second crash was unclear and details have not yet been released.
The CHP confirmed that people were also injured in the San Luis Obispo crash.
Aversano was arrested on suspicion of a hit-and-run causing bodily injury and driving under the influence of drugs, according to the CHP.
As of Wednesday morning, Aversano did not appear to be in San Luis Obispo County Jail custody, according to the jail booking log.
This story was originally published October 7, 2020 at 10:38 AM.
