Friend reflects back on Cal Poly student killed in hit-n-run

It’s a road his friends say he took all the time.

“We used to ride our bikes to school together. We’d always cross right here [at Foothill and Ferrini] and take the bike lane. He was always good about following the law,” says friend and neighbor Kyle Clark.

Clark had just seen 22 year old Kennedy Love a short time before the accident happened.

“I was with him at about nine o’clock. We were kicking a soccer ball at my house and thought about going downtown together,” Clark says.

But Love declined, opting to head to a restaurant to meet up with other friends.

When Clark returned home from going out around 2 a.m, he says he saw a body in the street, telling us: “I remember taking videos and being really curious and then I went home to tell the neighbors and there was an officer there and we learned the news.”

Police say a 17 year old driver was drinking and driving when she collided with Love.

“It looks like the bicyclist was in the fast lane, going eastbound preparing to make a left turn and the vehicle came up behind and hit him,” explains Sgt. John Villanti of the San Luis Obispo Police Department.

Police say the driver and another female passenger then drove off, briefly stopping in a Panda Express parking lot to check their car for damage and eventually abandoning it.

Police were able to find the car and the registered owner of the vehicle and they arrested the 17 year old girl.

Now Kennedy’s friends are looking back on the person they say always made them feel special.

“Without a doubt, [he’s] the best person I know, incredibly motivated and compassionate. He touched a lot of people here. I sat next to him for six months and it blew me away the things he did with school,” Clark says.

Kennedy’s friends hope to have a vigil for him some time this week.

The juvenile in this case was charged with vehicular manslaughter, felony DUI, and a felony hit and run.