A Santa Barbara man arrested for allegedly striking an acquaintance with his pickup truck and crashing into a Mesa laundromat to do it remained in custody the day after the incident.
Santa Barbara police and firefighters responded to the 300 block of Meigs Road at 7:40 p.m. Friday after reports that a pickup truck had just struck a man and then slammed through the front of a business, Sgt. Ethan Ragsdale said Saturday.
“The investigation revealed the suspect driver and the victim had a strained acquaintanceship from past contacts,” Ragsdale said.
He said the driver, 51-year-old Patrick M. Tobin, reportedly saw the man standing near the front of the Mesa Laundromat, at 315 Meigs Road across the street from Lazy Acres Market.
“Unprovoked, Tobin drove his pickup truck intentionally toward the victim striking him and propelling him about 20 feet through the large front glass windows,” Ragsdale said.
Police say the driver reversed the GMC Sonoma truck from the front of the damaged business and drove away with witnesses running after him.
The driver pulled his truck into an adjacent restaurant’s parking lot and was confronted by the witnesses, Ragsdale said.
“Tobin then drove toward one of the good Samaritans with his truck but fortunately only struck a large concrete pillar,” he said.
Firefighters from the nearby station on Cliff Drive got to the scene quickly and helped community members detain the driver until police arrived, Ragsdale said.
The victim, whose identity was not disclosed, was transported by American Medical Response ambulance to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital with minor to moderate injuries.
Tobin was arrested and booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, Ragsdale said. He remained in jail Saturday evening with bail set at $1 million.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.