Posted on 01/06/2004 10:01:58 AM PST by Smogger
LOS ANGELES -- An 87-year-old man will surrender to authorities Tuesday after being charged with manslaughter in the deaths 10 people killed when his car roared through a Santa Monica, Calif., Farmers' Market, his attorney said.
George Russell Weller of Santa Monica faces 10 felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence stemming from the July 16 crash, the district attorney's office said. The accident also injured 63 people.
Weller is charged in the deaths of Theresa Bregalia, 50, of Bronx, N.Y.; Brendon Esfahani, 7 months, of Los Angeles; Molok Ghoulian, 62, of Los Angeles; Gloria Gonzalez, 35, of Venice; Movsha Hoffman, 78, of Santa Monica; Leroy Lattier, 55, a transient; Diana McCarthy, 41, of New York, N.Y.; Kevin McCarthy, 50, of New York, N.Y.; Cindy Valladares, 3, of Los Angeles; and Lynne Ann Weaver, 47, of Woodland Hills. The victims were struck while shopping at the Farmers' Market on Arizona Avenue in Santa Monica on July 16, 2003.
Weller has agreed to surrender to authorities at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, prosecutors and a defense attorney said. Prosecutors recommended bail of $50,000, which Weller's attorney said he was prepared to post.
If convicted on all counts, he could receive sentences ranging from probation to 18 years in prison.
Describing the crash as an accident, defense attorney Jim Bianco said Weller and his family were disappointed by the news. He declined to comment further Monday.
"People refer to things as accidents, but if you negligently drive a vehicle and you hit a person and that person dies, that's a crime," said Head Deputy Dist. Atty. John Lynch told the Los Angeles Times. "Mr. Weller drove that vehicle negligently and he killed 10 people."
I may have read on another thread regarding this man's rampage that he was heard yelling "get out of my way!"
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