POINT MUGU : Lifeguard Struck on Bike Outing, Killed
A Point Mugu lifeguard who was also recreation director for a Thousand Oaks retirement home was killed on Pacific Coast Highway Sunday morning while riding her bike to Oxnard with friends, authorities said.
Tracy Clarke, 26, of Malibu was pronounced dead at Westlake Community Hospital about 8 a.m., said Officer Ed McLaughlin of the California Highway Patrol.
Dantio Herrera, whose Datsun swerved into the bike lane and struck Clarke from behind, was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving.
The 20-year-old Los Angeles man was being held at the Los Angeles County sheriff’s station at Malibu in lieu of $100,000 bail, McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin said Herrera attempted to flee the collision, about half a mile west of Decker Canyon Road in Malibu, but Clarke’s bike caught under his car and stopped him.
Clarke was thrown about 80 feet from her bike.
Clarke worked as a lifeguard for the state Parks and Recreation Department and as recreation director for Castle Hill Retirement Village, according to a friend, John Weatherly.
She was training for a triathlon in Canada next month, Weatherly said.
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