City Council meeting adjourned in memory of Pepperdine students killed in Oct. 17 crash
“Make PCH Safer.”
The council chamber was filled with anger, grief, and urgency from residents and activists in making Pacific Coast Highway safer. The plea comes after four Pepperdine University students, Niamh Rolston, 20; Peyton Stewart, 21; Asha Weir, 21; and Deslyn Williams; 21, were killed in a crash on Oct. 17. All were seniors at Pepperdine’s Seaver College of Liberal Arts.
Malibu and Pepperdine community members attended Monday night’s meeting expressing their concerns with the dangers of PCH and urging the council to take immediate action.
Five days earlier, on Oct. 17, 22-year-old Fraser Michael Bohm was speeding westbound on PCH, swerved onto the north shoulder, and slammed into three parked vehicles. Those vehicles then struck the four women, all of whom were pronounced dead at the scene. Bohm is facing charges of manslaughter for the death of the four women.
LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath was among those who spoke at the meeting, urging the council to work together to prevent another fatality.
“I join all of you and the Pepperdine community in grieving for these precious lives cut far too short; not only were these young women students in the community, they were engaged in helping to build a better and safer Malibu, working with the Malibu Chamber, and becoming part of the community, as they studied and planned for their future,” Horvath said. “This is truly a time for mourning, but it also a time for action. Safety along the 21-mile stretch of PCH has been a problem for far too long. As your LA County supervisor, I am committed to identifying and implementing solutions in partnership with all of you in the city and with our state agencies who hold authority over our state roadways.”
Horvath said she has been in communication with Senator Ben Allen and Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin.
“We have also been in communication with the governor to be ask that the pilot program, which was just approved, be considered for expansion to include Malibu immediately,” Horvath said. “There’s a collective desire to have all agencies on the same page with real solutions to see a different future for this high volume roadway.”
Horvath said she is working with sheriff’s and highway officials to reduce speed and increase enforcement.
“All of us are united and committed to working in partnership with you, we will not let the boundaries of government bureaucracy be the reason we do not take action; we will bring everyone together to find and implement real solutions,” Horvath said. “It’s going to take all of us with laser focus and accountability to each other to get this done.”
Sheriff’s Department Capt. Jennifer Seetoo shared her thoughts.
“A couple hours before I came to this meeting, I met with three of the families, and that was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done as a police officer,” Seetoo said. “I don’t ever want to do that again, it was just grueling looking into those parents eyes, so we are going to make a change. My focus is going to be education, enforcement, and engineering.”
Seetoo named a few Malibu residents who will help in bringing awareness on speeding on PCH. She said she spoke to Pepperdine students and encouraged them to watch the film by Michel Shane, “21 Miles in Malibu.”
“Every student should be fortunate to watch ’21 Miles in Malibu,’ so they understand the safety issues of this city,” Seetoo said. “Even [to] get to the grocery store, for the most part, most of the people have to use that state highway in the city where there is a college town.”
While residents have already shared their concerns with the lack of enforcement on PCH, Seetoo said they are still down in sheriff’s deputies by 30 percent.
Not even a week after the fatal collision, deputies pulled over a driver for going over 109 mph on Pacific Coast Highway.
The driver was heading westbound, around Civic Center area, just before 1:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 21. The deputy determined she was traveling at 109 mph with a lidar gun, which is more than double the posted 45 mph speed limit.
The woman, who does not have a driver’s license, was arrested on a charge of reckless driving. Her car was impounded for 30 days, according to deputies.
Among the plans discussed at Monday’s meeting were exploring an emergency declaration that could allow the city to implement lower speed limits on PCH, increasing patrols by the Sheriff’s Department and/or California Highway Patrol, and working with state legislators to bring speed cameras to Malibu. The city recently implemented eight Automated License Plate Recognition cameras in certain intersections in Malibu. The cameras will be used by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The locations are: PCH/Lunita Road, PCH/Kanan Dume Road, Malibu Canyon Road/Civic Center Way, PCH/Cross Creek Road, and PCH/South Topanga Canyon Boulevard.
The Malibu Times will follow up with the city and Sheriff’s Department on the progress of those cameras.
Seetoo hopes to implement speed cameras on PCH.
Malibu/Lost Hills Sgt. James Arens said the incident was still ongoing and was unable to provide any more information.
California State Senator Ben Allen shared his remarks through Zoom.
“I really hope that we can start a meaningful dialogue together at the county level, in the city, and your representatives at the state level, to think about more fundamental changes to PCH to improve safety,” Allen said. “The situation is untenable, it’s unacceptable. We don’t want any more people [to] die; we don’t want any more families to suffer.”
Malibu Mayor Steve Urhing said he received an estimated two hours of public comment. Residents and families shared their experiences in loss and urged the council to make PCH safer.
Speaker Jane Albrecht thanked the council and officials for speaking but asked them to continue their commitment after this meeting.
“Stay with it, three months from now, six months from now, a year from now; try to remember the feeling we all had tonight,” Albrecht said.
Albrecht hopes the city will also work together with Pepperdine.
A representative from Pepperdine did not speak at the meeting, but Director of Development Heidi Bernard attended in person.
Uhring thanked everyone for attending and speaking at the meeting, and the council voted to act on the items as quickly as possible.
Councilmember Doug Stewart said the city has an additional $3 million to $4 million for sheriff patrols that is unspent this year.
“We should be able to allocate that to the Highway Patrol,” Stewart said.
The City Council meeting adjourned in memory of the Pepperdine students Rolston, Stewart, Weir, and Williams. The meeting was also adjourned in memory of Walt Keller, Malibu’s first mayor.
The full article on the rest of the meeting will be published online. To listen to the speakers, visit malibucity.org/virtualmeeting.
The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Nov. 13.