A 64-year-old man has surrendered after he allegedly hit and killed a bicyclist in Los Altos Hills in February, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said.
The Sheriff’s Office said that around 9:40 a.m. on Feb. 13, authorities were alerted to a collision involving a bicyclist along Foothill Expressway north of Old Oak Court in Los Altos Hills.
First responders arrived and found a woman severely injured. They gave life-saving measures but the victim, 38-year-old Maria Jabon of Los Altos, succumbed to her injuries.
The Sheriff’s Office said that over several months, detectives conducted forensic analyses, executed search warrants before they obtained evidence that allegedly indicated the driver was distracted and swerved into the bicycle lane and struck the bicyclist.
The driver, 64-year-old Mesfin Mekonnen, turned himself in on Friday and was booked into the Main Jail in San Jose on suspicion of felony vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.
“The Sheriff’s Office is saddened by this preventable tragedy and reminds all drivers that avoiding distractions while driving is crucial for your safety and the safety of others,” the law enforcement agency said in a statement.
Anyone with information about the fatal collision is asked to contact the sheriff’s Traffic Investigation Unit at (408) 868-6600. — Bay City News
It’s nice how the cops always know that it was the motorist’s fault in any bicycle death. Who cares about facts when you have politics to guide you. If a cyclist pulls in the path of a car, who is at fault? If the cops want to show that they’re even-handed when it comes to investigating car-bike deaths, they should start writing tickets to bikers who blow through stop signs. But bike politics will never let that happen.
The accident happened on Foothill Expressway in Los Altos, not Los Altos Hills.
The line between the two jurisdictions is confusing but a map shows it happened in Los Altos Hills. It’s an easy mistake to make. But the DA got it right.