Authorities on Tuesday released the name of the driver who was killed over the weekend in a rollover crash on Highway 154 near the summit of San Marcos Pass.
The victim was Michael Fitzpatrick, 66, of Santa Barbara, according to Raquel Zick, public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Coroner’s Bureau.
Fitzpatrick was fatally injured at about 10:40 a.m. Saturday when his vintage pickup truck rolled over and landed upside down in a ditch on the side of the highway near East Camino Cielo.
“Preliminary investigation and witness statements indicate the driver of an older pickup truck was traveling at a high rate of speed when they lost control and collided with an embankment,” the California Highway Patrol reported on Facebook.
Fitzpatrick ended up under the vehicle, the CHP said, and was declared dead at the scene.
He owned Michael Fitzpatrick Auto Refinishing on North Quarantina Street on Santa Barbara’s Eastside, and was often seen driving around town in the pickup truck involved in the crash.
The cause of the crash remained under investigation by the CHP.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the CHP’s Santa Barbara Office at 805.770.4800.



