Manslaughter charges have been filed against a pickup truck driver who killed an elderly woman on Sunday, June 11 in the crosswalk on Fifth Street West near the Safeway Supermarket.
Maria Diaz-Deleon, 47, will have her first court date on Nov. 15 for manslaughter, not yielding to a pedestrian in a crosswalk and driving with an expired license. She killed Anna Marie Simmons, an 82-year-old great-grandmother who lived at Sonoma Creek Senior Housing on Oregon Street.
The misdemeanor charges carry a maximum penalty of one year in jail. The Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office decided against seeking felony charges, which carry harsher penalties, because it didn’t find evidence of gross negligence on Diaz-Delon’s part, said Spencer Brady, a chief deputy district attorney.
“There’s no evidence here to support a finding of gross negligence. They’re basically driving infractions that resulted in a death,” Brady said. “Gross negligence would be, for example, driving with extreme negligence while intoxicated and having a history of having done so – things of that nature.”
He added, “I believe the victim in this case was not at fault, in any way.”
Eyewitness Steve Hagstrom told the Sun in June that he was certain that Simmons had pressed the button to activate the crosswalk’s lights before she started to cross the street.
Seconds later, Hagstrom heard a loud “pop” and turned around to see that a full-size southbound pickup truck had hit the great-grandmother, throwing her what he estimated to be 30 feet to 50 feet.
The crosswalk isn’t linked to a traffic signal, but all of the small yellow lights embedded in the pavement to alert motorists were “functioning perfectly,” Deputy Mike Baraz told the Sun in June.
Simmons was a retired housekeeper who worked for 20 years in Sonoma. She was a longtime former member of the Sonoma Valley Women of the Moose, a member of the Sonoma Rock Hounds, a 41-year resident of Sonoma and a native of Cleveland, Ohio.
