A California Highway Patrol in Novato, Calif. on Wednesday, July 28, 2021. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)
OAKLAND — Alameda County prosecutors have charged a 22-year-old man with a misdemeanor in connection with an October 2022 crash that killed a woman on Interstate 880, court records show.
Gabriel Loya was charged with a single count of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter in the death of Shirley Duran. The Oct. 24, 2022 crash occurred on I-880 in San Leandro, near Washington Avenue, and involved four vehicles.
Police haven’t revealed why Loya is accused of criminal wrongdoing. A probable cause statement filed in court by a California Highway Patrol officer simply says that Loya was found to have committed a misdemeanor “through the course of my investigation.”
Under state law, a misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter charge can be justified by a driver committing a low-level driving offense, even an infraction like speeding or rolling through a stop sign, if it leads to a fatal crash.
Loya was charged in late May, and appeared in court briefly for a pretrial conference on Thursday. His next court hearing has been set for September.
Loya has been released from jail without bail while the charges are pending, court records show. If convicted, he could face as much as a year in jail or as little as a brief probation stint.
Originally published at Nate Gartrell