Pedestrian struck and killed by car on Highway 101 in Santa Barbara

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - California Highway Patrol and the Santa Barbara Police Department responded to a report of a pedestrian who was hit by a car and killed while crossing the U.S. 101 Southbound freeway on Friday.

The incident occurred just north of the La Cumbre Road exit around 6:15 p.m.

Santa Barbara Police said the victim was walking northbound on the freeway while the cars drove southbound.

CHP said the victim was struck in the middle of the slow lane.

The reporting party was driving a dark grey Toyota Camry. The windshield was reportedly caved in, but they said they did not know what they hit.

The Santa Barbara Police Department said they are unsure how many people were in the vehicle, but the people in the car were not injured in the crash.

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office called the coroner to the scene and the victim was reported deceased just before 7 p.m.

Both the car and body have been removed from the scene.

CHP called for a hard closure of the southbound lanes while they investigated the incident.

As of 8:30 p.m., the middle and right lanes remain closed. CHP is working on opening up the middle lane.

We will update this story when more information becomes available.