Print friendly
E-mail story
Contact an Editor
iPod friendly
Comments
Bookmark This
del.icio.us.
Digg!
furl
google
newsvine
reddit
technorati
Facebook
Yahoo!A 66-year-old woman training for a run to raise money to support cancer research was killed when she was hit by a van driven by a 56-year-old man, whom police say was driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs on Las Positas Road the morning of Saturday, August 30.
Santa Barbara resident Carolyn Samuels was with a group of about 35 people at 7:35 a.m., running and walking northbound on Las Positas Road in the southbound bike lane. There are no sidewalks in that portion of the roadway, where the speed limit is 50 miles per hour. According to police, a white van driven southbound by Gregory Doan left its lane and hit Samuels, who was in the bike lane at the time, about 100 yards south of the Veronica Springs intersection. Many of the runners witnessed the event, according to police. The woman was taken to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, but eventually succumbed to her injuries. According to a report from police spokesperson Sgt. Lorenzo Duarte, the driver of the van appeared to be under the influence of both alcohol and drugs and was arrested on charges of felony driving under the influence of a controlled substance, driving while addicted to a drug, and murder.
Courtesy Photo
Carolyn Samuels
Doan remains in County Jail with bail set at $1 million. According to Duarte, Doan had been arrested in the past on suspicion of driving under the influence, although Duarte didn’t have the details available to him. The chief trial deputy at the District Attorney’s office, Josh Lynn, said he wasn’t going to comment on Doan’s possible prior convictions, as he wasn’t familiar with many of the details. A man who answered the phone at the records department of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department said records of past bookings are sealed, and that, without a subpoena, he could only provide information on people currently incarcerated.
Paul Wellman
Gregory Albert Doan
As of this article’s deadline, no charges have been filed against Doan, as the District Attorney’s office is still reviewing and “trying to shake out the details,” said Lynn, who is overseeing the office’s procedure. He said he expected charges to be filed by Wednesday afternoon’s deadline to do so. Lynn didn’t know if Doan had an attorney yet.
The group Samuels was running with was part of Team in Training, a Leukemia & Lymphoma Society endurance sports program — the largest of its kind anywhere in the world — in which participants run to raise funds that go toward helping find cures to leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. The group was training for an October women’s marathon and half-marathon races in San Francisco.
Paul Wellman
Passing on: A man runs by a memorial for Carolyn Samuels.
Samuels is listed as a mentor on the Santa Barbara Team in Training Web site. One member of Team in Training, however, asked that a positive story be written about Samuels, describing her as “an incredible woman.” Her friends and family said Samuels enjoyed traveling to foreign countries and even started a business with a friend, importing goods from South America. She also had recently run the Boston Marathon, and friends and family described running as an activity she loved.
Erin Pearson, the Santa Barbara campaign manager for Team in Training who was with Samuels in the ambulance to the hospital, said there weren’t enough good things to say about Samuels. She raised more than $4,000 to fight leukemia and was involved in a lot of different groups. Samuels’s daughter, Jane, said her mom was incredibly outgoing and made friends everywhere. She was slated to begin a stint with AmeriCorps in Santa Barbara this fall, and was really excited about it. She was “incredibly active as a mom,” and was compassionate, regal, and a devoted grandmother.
A memorial service will be held at All Saints by the Sea on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Related Links
Double-clicking on any word or phrase in this story will open a reference window with definitions and links to other reference material.
Previous Month
Comments
Discussion Guidelines
When are the courts going to start doing something about the multitude of repeat offenders who drink and drive. I can't even count the number of news articles and police related shows I've seen where people have been pulled over who were drunk and they had 18+ previous convictions for the same offense within a ten year (or less) period. Why aren't they doing serious time in a state facility? Why are they still allowed to roam the streets doing what they please? How many victims have to die before the state does something about it?
The same goes for people who run from the police. Having had a very good friend killed by a fugitive who was fleeing the police, shouldn't the punishment for fleeing be something to be feared instead of a mild reprimand?
People who engage in these sorts of offenses should be charged with attempted murder because every person out on the road (or sidewalk or anywhere in their path) are potential victims. Wouldn't most people think twice about running from the police if the punishment for running, even without hurting anyone, was a minimum of 20 years? Most offenders don't even do 6 months. Crime is on the rise because people keep getting away with it.
faerydragon (anonymous profile)
September 15, 2008 at 6:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Post a comment