Bicyclist Dies After Hit-Run Collision

A 39-year-old Simi Valley man died early Saturday after his bicycle was struck by a red vehicle that sped off after the collision, the California Highway Patrol reported.

Walter Stevens Sprayberry died of head injuries at 12:12 a.m. at Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo, where he was taken by ambulance after the collision at 11:30 p.m. Friday, officers said.

According to officers, Sprayberry was riding west on the shoulder of California 118 near Grimes Canyon Road west of Moorpark when the vehicle clipped the bike’s back tire.

Sprayberry hit the vehicle’s windshield and the impact shattered it, officers said. The vehicle also may have sustained front-end damage and a broken right-front turn signal.

The crash occurred along a two-lane stretch of the highway where bicycle travel is allowed.

Sprayberry was on a ride of more than 50 miles to his job in Goleta, where he was a motel maintenance worker, family members said.

“It was no big deal,” a tearful Duane Stevens, Sprayberry’s former legal guardian, said of the bike ride. “I’ve seen him walk to Oxnard before. This guy was tough, but not tough enough.”

Stevens and his wife, Jean, were friends of Sprayberry’s grandmother and had raised him since he was 2. Most of Sprayberry’s relatives live in Oregon, Stevens said.

Sprayberry lived in Simi Valley for 37 years and attended Royal High School.

Funeral arrangements were pending. Anyone with information about the accident is asked to call the CHP at 654-4571.