A 16-year-old driver whose Range Rover plowed into a parked car on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, Calif., killed longtime Nobu Malibu sushi chef Ryo Uchimiya, 51, on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. Authorities have identified the boy but have not released his name because he is a minor. As of Wednesday, Oct. 7, no charges had been reported.
Uchimiya had arrived early for his shift, as he often did, and was napping in his car a short distance from the restaurant when the SUV struck.
The 2026 Range Rover is leased to Hollywood composer Harry Gregson-Williams, 64, according to DMV records. “This family is grieving just as the other family,” he said when reached by phone. Neither his link to the teen nor the reason the boy was driving has been made public.
What Investigators Say
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said the Range Rover hit Uchimiya’s car, along with two other vehicles, at about 6:50 a.m. near Carbon Canyon Road. It appeared the teen was speeding, the department said.
The driver was not hurt. He stayed at the scene, cooperated with detectives and showed no obvious signs of impairment, according to officials. A witness told KTLA the teenager sat at the scene for about two hours. No one else was injured. The investigation is still open, and it is not clear whether he will be charged.
The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office ruled Uchimiya’s death an accident caused by multiple blunt force injuries.
Video From Across the Highway
Footage from a surf shop facing the crash site, supplied by former Malibu Mayor Jefferson Wagner, appears to show the SUV drifting out of the right lane and toward the shoulder moments before the collision. Wagner said Uchimiya “was asleep” and routinely napped there before work.
Origami cranes now hang at a memorial near the spot where he died.
A Quarter Century at Nobu
Nobu employed Uchimiya for 25 years, and colleagues credited him with helping build the Malibu restaurant’s operation. The upscale Japanese restaurant is known for its celebrity clientele. Its manager told KTLA the staff was doing everything possible to support his family, adding that it had been “a very, very difficult day for so many people.”
A Dangerous Stretch of Highway
The 21-mile Malibu section of PCH has averaged about four crash deaths a year over the past decade, the California Post reported, making it one of the state’s deadliest roads.
In October 2023, four Pepperdine University students from the Alpha Phi sorority were killed when a speeding BMW hit parked cars that then struck them. Fraser Bohm, 24, is charged with four counts of second-degree murder and four counts of vehicular manslaughter. His trial, first set for September, was pushed to Dec. 1, the Malibu Times reported.
Malibu plans to begin a warning phase for new PCH speed cameras in November. Four cameras recorded about 100,000 speeding violations in testing from Sept. 16 to 24, the city said, and the crash has renewed attention on the corridor.
