A 70-year-old Simi Valley man has been arrested nearly three months after a hit-and-run crash killed 30-year-old Camarillo musician Steven Michael Monzon on a dark, unlit stretch of Santa Rosa Road. Humberto Perez was booked on suspicion of felony hit-and-run in connection with the crash that happened just before 11 p.m. on June 7, when a vehicle struck Monzon in the Santa Rosa Valley near Gerry Road and then fled the scene.
Monzon had been on his way to his parents' home in Camarillo after leaving his fiancée's home in Simi Valley when his Uber ride ended several miles short of its destination, according to NBC Los Angeles. Why the trip ended early remains unclear, and Uber did not respond to the outlet's request for comment. The drop-off point sat next to a two-lane highway with no lighting, no sidewalks, and a lemon orchard along the roadside — conditions Monzon's father, Steven Arthur Monzon, called inappropriate for leaving a passenger alone at night.
According to reporting relayed by the Santa Paula Times, Monzon reportedly used his cell phone flashlight to try to flag down passing vehicles after being let out, and his shoes and phone were later recovered roughly 100 yards from where his body was found. The initial 911 call, placed around 10:50 p.m., described a pedestrian in dark clothing standing in the roadway near Gerry Road; a second call soon followed reporting that he had been struck.
A Contested Early Classification
Early California Highway Patrol releases relayed by the Santa Paula Times indicated the Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office had initially classified Monzon's death as a suicide — a preliminary designation his family vehemently disputed as they pushed law enforcement to pursue hit-and-run homicide charges instead. That early tension sat alongside a monthslong CHP investigation that, according to the Santa Paula Times, had few solid leads on the fleeing sedan in its early stages.
In the weeks after the crash, Monzon's parents, Maribel and Steven Arthur Monzon, personally walked Santa Rosa Road, knocking on doors to ask residents for private security camera footage that might identify the suspect's vehicle, according to the Santa Paula Times. Their canvassing effort ran alongside the official investigation, which authorities say lasted several weeks before Perez was identified as the suspected driver.
Family Reflects on a Life Cut Short
Steven Arthur Monzon told reporters his son's future was cut short and that the loss hurts the family deeply, describing him as a man full of life and full of a future. Monzon, a musician who lived in Camarillo, was remembered by loved ones after the crash. His mother, Maribel Monzon, organized a GoFundMe fundraiser to help cover unexpected funeral costs and legal expenses tied to the case.
Perez was booked on suspicion of felony hit-and-run, with bail set at $50,000, per California Highway Patrol reporting cited by NBC Los Angeles. Under California Vehicle Code Section 20001(b)(2), leaving the scene of a crash that results in death or permanent, serious injury is a felony punishable by two, three, or four years in state prison, up to one year in county jail, and fines between $1,000 and $10,000, according to Justia Law.
Rideshare Drop-Offs Under Scrutiny
The circumstances of Monzon's drop-off have raised questions about rideshare safety standards on rural highways. Uber's own California driver safety rules, aligned with California Public Utilities Commission guidance, instruct drivers to release passengers only in safe curbside locations and specifically flag unlit highways and roads lacking sidewalks as unsafe drop-off zones, according to Uber. Research cited by Carrazco Law, drawing on a National Bureau of Economic Research study, found that the growth of ridehailing services in a region is associated with roughly a 3 percent increase in total traffic fatalities involving both vehicle occupants and pedestrians.
Santa Rosa Road's dangers predate this case by decades. A September 1991 fatal crash on the same stretch killed a local contractor five years after his wife and son died in a separate crash on that same road, according to a Los Angeles Times report from that period. Rural Ventura County thoroughfares like this one have long lacked modern street lighting and pedestrian infrastructure.
A County-Wide Pattern of Risk
Ventura County recorded 55 pedestrian fatalities and injuries in 2022, ranking seventh-worst among 61 comparably sized California counties, according to California Office of Traffic Safety data, which also logged 51 hit-and-run collisions causing injury or death that year. Statewide, California's pedestrian fatality rate runs about 30 percent higher than the national average, giving it the highest annual total of pedestrian traffic deaths of any state, per the same agency's more recent figures.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the CHP Ventura Communications Center at 805-477-4174. The investigation into the crash that killed Monzon remains active following Perez's arrest and booking, which the California Highway Patrol confirmed publicly.
