-- Deepa Bharath Man dies after being...

-- Deepa Bharath

Man dies after being struck by car

An unidentified man believed to be a transient died late Wednesday

night after he was struck by a sport utility vehicle on Coast

Highway, police said.

Dispatchers received a call at about 10:33 p.m. Wednesday about a

“male transient creating a traffic hazard by walking in the roadway”

on Pacific Coast Highway near Newport Coast Drive, said Howard

Eisenberg, Newport Beach Police traffic investigator.

Minutes later, police got a 911 call from 43-year-old Nathan Baker

of Laguna Beach reporting that he had collided with a pedestrian and

believed the man had “suffered fatal injuries,” Eisenberg said.

Officers spotted Baker, who had stopped curbside on Coast Highway

south of Los Trancos near the body of the unidentified man, Eisenberg

said.

Preliminary investigation shows the man moved onto the roadway and

was struck by Baker’s Toyota 4Runner, Eisenberg said. There was no

indication that Baker was speeding or under the influence of any

substances, Eisenberg said. The deceased man’s state of intoxication

will not be known until an autopsy is completed, he said.

Baker was not injured. Police are investigating the incident.