Huntington Beach fatal hit-and-run suspect nabbed after citizen tips off police, victim identified

Huntington Beach Police have arrested a man on suspicion of fatally striking an 81-year-old pedestrian Thursday afternoon near the intersection of Yorktown Avenue and Newland Street, after receiving a tip from a citizen on social media, officials reported.

Jennifer Carey, the city’s public affairs manager, confirmed that Blake Robert Patraw, 23, of Huntington Beach, had been taken into custody by officers Friday morning.

Police in a release Thursday requested help from the public identifying the driver of a gray vehicle reportedly traveling eastbound on Yorktown Avenue in the left lane, just past the intersection, when it struck a man crossing the roadway and fled the scene.

The pedestrian, who had been walking north across Yorktown, was not in a crosswalk when the incident occurred, according to the news release. The Orange County Coroner’s Office on Friday identified the victim as John Carroll Stout, 81, of Huntington Beach.

First responders arriving on scene located Stout in the roadway and transported him to a nearby hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries, the release stated. Police had no specific information on the make or model of the vehicle or the description of the driver at the time of Thursday’s release.

However, a person commenting on a post about the collision, made on Huntington Beach Police Department’s Facebook page, indicated a man driving a gray Toyota Prius had come into her husband’s automotive repair shop looking to get a window replaced.

She said her husband wrote down the vehicle’s license plate just before the man, appearing anxious, sped away from the business without completing the transaction.

Carey could not confirm Friday whether the woman’s tip about the license plate number aided officers in tracking Patraw’s whereabouts, but did say a tip from the public ultimately led to his arrest.

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