Atascadero officers seeking information on deadly crash

March 15, 2025

By KAREN VELIE

Police officers are seeking information regarding a hit-and-run crash in Atascadero on Friday afternoon that took the life on an 11-year-old boy.

Shortly before 3 p.m., a driver in a grey Ford pickup truck hit and killed the student while he walked home from Atascadero Middle School. The boy was on the sidewalk on the 1080o block of El Camino Real when a truck drove onto the sidewalk and hit him, police said.

The driver fled the crash site. The 11-year-old boy died at the scene.

With the help of community-provided video footage, patrol officers were able to locate the suspect’s truck, which had been abandoned behind an apartment building a few blocks away from the crash site.

Officers closed off a section of southwest Atascadero as they searched for the suspects. Residents of a home on Seville Lane told officers one of the suspects was in their garage.

After taking the suspect from the garage into custody, officers ordered a second person to leave the home.

Investigators are asking anyone who may have witnessed the collision, or who has security camera footage, photographs, or other relevant evidence from the area around the time of the incident, to contact the Atascadero Police Department Detective Bureau at (805) 470-3252.

“We appreciate the public’s assistance in this ongoing investigation,” police said.