The 16-year-old driver in a crash that killed her four teen friends has pleaded not guilty, but meanwhile, parents are bringing legal motions against the California Highway Patrol and Marin County.
You may recall last spring’s incredibly tragic April 18 car crash that killed four teens who attended Archie Williams High School in San Anselmo, while also leaving the 16-year-old teen driver and one other teen in the vehicle severely injured. The victims killed were 14-year-old Olive Koren, 15-year-old Sienna Katz, 15-year-old Josalyn Osborn, and 15-year-old Ada Kepley.
The California Highway Patrol (CHP) blames the crash on the 16-year-old driver for speeding, and she’s been charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter, driving at an unsafe speed, and violating the terms of her provisional driver’s license. (We are not naming the teen driver, as she is a minor, though is now 17 years old.) The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports that she pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Marin County Superior Court.
That was hardly unexpected. But what is unexpected, as the Chronicle reports, is that prosecutors in the case are now asking for further information on the CHP officers who investigated the scene, indicating the CHP might end up somehow being on trial here too.
And separately, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat adds that parent Robert Katz is suing Marin County, in a lawsuit that declares (in the Press Democrat’s words) that “large redwood trees lined the road at the curve and the crash site lacked guardrails and appropriate signage warning of the potential hazard.”
But the prosecutors’ moves, seemingly against the CHP, are an absolute head-scratcher with little reasoning given so far. We can only wonder if prosecutors might on some level agree with an argument the 17-year-old teen driver’s defense is making, challenging the use of a speedometer that was damaged in the crash.
“The CHP released flawed and incomplete reports at the beginning of the case,” her attorney Charles Dresow told the Chronicle. “The CHP’s use of a ‘frozen speedometer’ to estimate speed is not reliable due to the factors present in the accident.”
It is not guaranteed that the court will grant the motion to investigate the CHP officers involved. The next hearing on that motion is scheduled for March 11.
Meanwhile, for their part, Marin County has reduced the speed limit on the road in question to 30 miles per hour, and added warning signs about a curve in the road.
