A man was found dead in Chico's Lindo Channel on Saturday morning after what police believe was a nighttime e-bike crash that sent him off the roadway and into the water near Manzanita Avenue and Hilda Way. Officials received a report at 8:50 a.m. that someone was lying unresponsive on top of an electric bicycle in the channel. By the time first responders arrived, the man had already died.
According to actionnewsnow.com, a caller first spotted the man and his e-bike in the channel and alerted authorities. Chico Fire Department crews, Butte EMS and Chico police officers all responded to the scene, but first responders confirmed there was nothing they could do. The man's identity has not been released.
Investigators Believe He Left the Roadway at Night
Police say their working theory is that the man was riding his e-bike during nighttime hours when he veered off the road and fell into the channel, according to the same report. He died from injuries sustained in the crash, the outlet notes. Beyond that, detectives have not released further details about what led up to the crash or how he ended up in the water.
Police are asking anyone with information to come forward. The case is being tracked under number 26-007510, and tipsters can call 530-897-4911 with anything that might help investigators piece together what happened.
Part of a Broader Pattern on California Roads
The Chico case lands amid a steep statewide rise in e-bike-related crashes. A study published in Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open found that e-bike collisions in California jumped from just two recorded incidents in 2018 to 1,566 in 2024. Researchers behind that study identified 4,035 e-bike collisions and 58,332 traditional bicycle collisions over that same stretch, and found e-bike crashes involved more unsafe-speed and improper-turning violations than crashes involving standard bicycles.
The same research found moderate-to-severe injuries were more common among e-bike riders than traditional cyclists, 15.8% compared with 11.9%. Overall mortality rates were close between the two groups, at 2.0% for e-bikes versus 1.7% for conventional bicycles, though the study noted a sharp divergence in 2024 that pushed e-bike mortality higher. E-bike riders in the dataset also skewed younger, with a median age of 33 compared to 36 for traditional cyclists.
Not every trend points in the same direction. Statewide, bicyclist fatalities actually fell 20.8% in California between 2022 and 2023 even as they rose 4.4% nationally, according to the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center. That same research found men accounted for 83.4% of California's bicycle fatalities in 2023, that 90% of fatal bicycle crashes happened in urban areas, and that the deadliest window statewide was Saturday night between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Chico's incident is not an isolated one this year. In July, a man riding an e-bike died in an early-morning crash in the 3900 block of Las Posas Road in Camarillo, according to the Los Angeles Times. Deputies responding to a 2 a.m. call found that man lying near his e-bike in the roadway, and first responders attempted to save him before he died of his injuries. No connection between the two cases has been established.
For now, Chico police have not said whether a vehicle or another person played any role in the Lindo Channel crash, and they have not released the man's name. Investigators continue to urge anyone with information about the case to call with tips as the inquiry continues.
