Vanessa Rose Noblitt, 44, pled guilty to vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in the hit-run death of an elderly cyclist Submitted photo
A San Luis Obispo woman pled guilty to vehicular manslaughter in connection with a 2024 hit-run crash where she hit and killed an elderly man riding a bicycle in San Luis Obispo.
District Attorney Dan Dow said that Vanessa Rose Noblitt, 44, pled guilty to vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in the fatal hit and run accident.
Noblitt admitted to being drunk on July 23, 2024, when she was driving southbound on South Higuera Street in SLO at about noon and drifted into the bike lane striking cyclist Saul Goldberg, 86, knocking him off his bike and suffering fatal injuries.
His cycling companion, Martin Suits, 72, is believed to have crashed into Goldberg and been thrown from his bicycle suffering a concussion and other injuries.
Noblitt fled the scene and was later arrested after she hit a parked car inside a mobile home park, the news release said.
It was determined she had a blood alcohol level of .31% at the time of the crash, and 0.08% is the legal limit to drive in California.
The case was apparently heading to trial but during a probable cause hearing on Aug. 14, Suits testified to his recollections and injuries from the accident, with Goldberg’s Family in attendance.
“After careful consultation with victim Martin Suits and Mr. Goldberg’s immediate family both before and after the preliminary hearing,” the release said, “a plea offer was made to Noblitt that Mr. Suits, and Mr. Goldberg’s family were in support of.”
Her plea to vehicular manslaughter and DUI with great bodily injury or death “is a violent strike offense under California’s Three Strikes Law. Noblitt also admitted a factor in aggravation that the victim was particularly vulnerable.”
As a result of the plea, on Oct. 13 she will be given the maximum sentence under the law — 9 years, and 8 months in State Prison.
The SLO Police Department investigated the case, and the prosecutor was Dep. D.A. Delaney Henretty. Victim support services were provided by Victim Advocate Tristan Millage and Witness Coordinator Eloiza Basinger.
