Surveillance video from a surf shop across the street appeared to show a Range Rover drifting from the right lane toward the shoulder of Pacific Coast Highway moments before it plowed into a parked sedan in Malibu, Calif., killing a 51-year-old chef who was asleep inside while he waited for his shift to begin on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026.
The victim was Ryo Uchimiya, a longtime sushi chef at Nobu Malibu, the high-end Japanese restaurant known for its celebrity clientele. Uchimiya was sitting in his car, parked down the street from the restaurant, when the SUV crashed into his vehicle and two others just before 7 a.m., according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. He had arrived early for work, as he often did, and was napping.
The Range Rover hit Uchimiya’s car at about 6:50 a.m., and it appeared the driver had been speeding, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. John Addington said. Authorities identified the driver as a 16-year-old boy who survived the crash, remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators. He did not appear to be under the influence, officials said. No other injuries were reported.
A 25-Year Career at Nobu Malibu
Uchimiya, who was identified by the Los Angeles medical examiner’s office, had worked for Nobu for 25 years and was credited with helping build the Malibu restaurant’s operation.
The restaurant’s manager said the “family of staffers” there were doing whatever they could to support Uchimiya’s relatives. “Obviously, it’s been a very, very difficult day for so many people,” the manager said, according to KTLA.
Surf Shop Video and a Roadside Memorial
Jefferson Wagner, a former Malibu mayor who owns the surf shop across the highway from the crash site, provided the store’s surveillance footage, which appears to capture the Range Rover veering toward the shoulder seconds before impact. Wagner visited the memorial that has sprung up near the spot where Uchimiya died, where origami cranes now hang.
“He was asleep,” Wagner said. “He gets here early and takes a snooze and then goes to work on time.”
The SUV crossed the fog line — the painted stripe dividing the traffic lane from the shoulder — before striking the chef’s car. A witness said the teenage driver appeared stunned in the aftermath of the crash.
One of California’s Deadliest Roads
The 21-mile stretch of Pacific Coast Highway that cuts through Malibu ranks among the state’s deadliest and most notorious roads, averaging roughly four crash-related fatalities a year over the past decade. Wagner said he has counted 10 deaths during the years he has leased his storefront along the route.
The highway drew intense scrutiny after a crash in October 2023, when authorities say a 22-year-old Malibu man driving a BMW at an estimated 104 mph in a 45-mph zone struck three parked cars, which then hit and fatally injured four Alpha Phi sorority sisters from Pepperdine University. The driver, Fraser Bohm, faces multiple counts of murder and vehicular manslaughter. His trial, postponed from Sept. 8, is set to begin Dec. 1. That case prompted plans for tougher safety measures, including cameras and steeper fines for speeding.
Conditions along the corridor have grown more complicated since the January 2025 fires destroyed homes and businesses in the area, leaving construction zones and reduced speed limits scattered across the route.
Malibu, after delays, is set to begin a 60-day warning phase for new speed cameras along the highway in November, a step city officials hope will curb the kind of speeds investigators are now examining. Preliminary testing alone generated about 100,000 speeding violations across four cameras in nine days, from Sept. 16 to 24, the city said.
No charges had been filed as of Monday, Oct. 5, and the sheriff’s department’s investigation remained open. The medical examiner’s office ruled his death an accident caused by multiple blunt force injuries.
