A Nobu Malibu employee was killed Saturday morning when a Range Rover driven by a 16-year-old slammed into his parked car on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department identified the victim as Ryo Uchimiya, 51, and said no charges had been filed as investigators looked into the crash.
Uchimiya had arrived at work early Saturday and was waiting in his car outside the restaurant when the Range Rover hit him around 6:50 a.m. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. John Addington said it appeared the boy had been speeding. No other injuries were reported.
The crash lands on a 21-mile stretch of Pacific Coast Highway that runs through Malibu and has become a grim reference point for drivers, residents and first responders alike. Over the last decade, that corridor has averaged about four crash-related fatalities a year, and its record has pushed safety changes before, including added cameras and higher fines after a deadly October 2023 wreck that killed four Alpha Phi sorority sisters from Pepperdine University.
That earlier crash also helped frame the road’s current danger as more than a one-off tragedy. In October 2023, a 24-year-old Malibu man driving a BMW at an estimated 104 miles per hour in a 45-mph zone struck three parked cars, and the driver, Fraser Bohm, has been charged with murder. After the January 2025 fires destroyed local homes and businesses, construction zones multiplied and speed limits were reduced, but the stretch of road remained unforgiving.
What made Saturday’s fatal crash more unsettling is what authorities had not yet said: why a 16-year-old was driving fast enough to hit a parked car with lethal force. Addington’s account points to speed, but the investigation remains open, and that leaves the central question untouched even as the facts around the death are clear. Uchimiya died where he was waiting to begin his day, and for now the case sits with investigators rather than a courtroom.
