A Cal Poly alumna and KSBY employee was struck by a car and killed while crossing the street outside The Cliffs Resort in Shell Beach the evening of Nov. 19.
Pismo Beach police said a car collided with 39-year-old Tricia Rittger at approximately 6:50 p.m. as she was walking toward The Cliffs. Emergency responders transported Rittger to the Arroyo Grande Community Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 7:35 p.m.
Police sergeant David Cooley said Rittger was heading to the resort with another woman who witnessed the accident; her name could not be provided. As Rittger crossed the street, the other woman stopped because she saw the vehicle approaching, Cooley said.
The vehicle was an SUV traveling at approximately 40 miles per hour — the speed limit in that area, Cooley said.
Rittger was dressed in dark clothes at the time of the accident, and it was dark outside — although there are streetlights in the area.
KSBY president and general manager Kathleen Choal said Rittger, a 13-year veteran of the local NBC affiliate, was going to meet friends at The Cliffs, and from there was going to watch a movie.
“(Rittger) was a wonderful employee, but more importantly she was a wonderful mother, wife, sister, daughter and friend,” Choal said. “She had a terrific laugh and a wonderful sense of humor and all of us here at KSBY are devastated by her death.”
Amy Martel, a friend who met Rittger as a Cal Poly student in 1995, also remembers Rittger’s sense of humor.
“We will remember her deep loyalty to friends, her vivacious sense of humor and the great care she took to make everything in her life special and beautiful,” Martel said. “She dearly loved her family and her life on the Central Coast.”
Rittger worked a variety of jobs at KSBY, most recently serving as national sales manager. She is survived by her husband, Aaron, and 4-year-old daughter, Erin.
A memorial service was held on Sunday at The Cliffs, and a memorial fund has been set up under her name at Rabobank.
Pismo Beach police are currently conducting an investigation into her death. Autopsy and toxicology reports are yet to be released.