High-speed chase ends in deadly crash

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

A Santa Barbara man died after crashing into the rear of a tractor-trailer on Highway 101 while fleeing at high speeds from California Highway Patrol officers early this morning.
Authorities spotted Ryan Nicholas Hofmann, 20, pulling onto the highway at Mission Street, heading northbound in a gray Honda CRV at around 1:50 a.m. and immediately accelerating to about 90 mph in the fast lane, CHP spokesman Don Clotworthy said.

As the two-officer CHP patrol unit pulled behind the Honda and officers activated its emergency lights, Hofmann accelerated to speeds reaching 120 mph.
After maintaining that speed for about seven miles, just passing Glen Annie Road, the Honda abruptly switched into the slower right lane, Clotworthy said, quickly approaching a 1994 Freightliner tractor-trailer about 300 feet ahead.
“The Honda did not brake and it slammed directly into the rear trailer of the big rig at approximately 110-120 mph,” Clotworthy said in a press advisory.
Hofmann died instantly, he said. The driver of the tractor-trailer, Juan Jose Flores, 47, of Bakersfield, did not suffer any injuries. Flores had been traveling from Southern California to San Luis Obispo to pick up a load of cargo at the time of the crash.
“Due to the unusual circumstances of this collision and the death of Mr. Hofmann, the CHP and the Santa Barbara County Coroner’s Department are attempting to determine whether or not this was a completed suicide attempt,” Clotworthy said.