MARTINEZ — The driver of a vehicle that hit and killed a school crossing guard in Lafayette last year was sentenced after pleading no-contest last month, authorities said.
At a Superior Court sentencing hearing May 16, Judge Joni Hiramoto sentenced Phyllis Meehan to 100 hours of community service and one year of court probation, Contra Costa County District Attorney’s spokesman Ted Asregadoo said in a statement Tuesday. She also may not operate a motor vehicle during her probation.
Around 3 p.m. Sept. 8, 2021, Meehan’s GMC Yukon sport-utility vehicle struck crossing guard Ashley Dias outside Stanley Middle School on two-lane School Street near Paradise Court.
Authorities said that Meehan — “without malice,” according to a deputy district attorney’s statement — drove into another vehicle before accelerating into the crosswalk in front of the school.
Dias, 45, pushed a student out of the way before he was struck. Lafayette police officers responding to the collision found him trapped under a car and pulled him out with help from some bystanders, officials said. An ambulance rushed him to a hospital, but he died from his injuries later that day.
It was the second day on the job for Dias, who worked in the biotechnology industry and attended Stanley as a child. He began volunteering as a guard after his niece began walking to school.
Family and community members mourned their loved one’s loss, which added to an ongoing local debate around traffic safety in the city.
A coroner’s report Sept. 23, 2021, listed Dias’ cause of death as “multiple blunt force injuries” due to “motor vehicle collision, pedestrian struck by automobile and dragged approximately 35 yards.” The case was classified as an “accident.”
Meehan, who stayed at the scene and spoke with investigators, was charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter. In a statement, the district attorney’s office said “vehicular manslaughter is a case of negligence – a failure to exercise a reasonable standard of care and caution.” She was arraigned Jan. 7, and initially pleaded not guilty, according to a county records check.
According to Asregadoo, Meehan wrote a letter, delivered a week before sentencing, to Dias’ family, who played a video presentation memorializing Dias before formal sentencing.
Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.
Source: www.mercurynews.com