Nobu Malibu chef, 51, is killed sleeping in parked car after speeding teenage Range Rover driver strikes him on PCH

From the Newshound archive · first published 5 October 2026.

Ryo Uchimiya had arrived early for a catering job in Santa Monica and fallen asleep in the back seat of his parked car when a 16-year-old boy driving a Range Rover SUV at an estimated 50 mph struck the vehicle on Pacific Coast Highway at around 7am on Saturday. The impact drove Uchimiya's car into a second vehicle, which in turn hit a third. The Los Angeles County medical examiner ruled the cause of death as "multiple blunt force injuries" and the manner as accident. No arrests had been made as of Sunday morning.

Colleagues at Nobu Malibu remembered Uchimiya, a father of two sons, as a "real nice guy, very talented chef."

Footage obtained by KTLA shows the SUV travelling at speed along PCH before abruptly cutting onto the shoulder and striking the parked car.

A former Malibu mayor said dangerous crashes involving parked cars and cyclists on that stretch of PCH are routine: "I see it all the time."