The Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office has charged a 70-year-old Danville man with vehicular manslaughter for a collision that killed a pedestrian in June.
Steven Seltzer was driving a vehicle that struck Danville resident Joyce Huang, 32, on June 2. At 8:06 p.m., police had responded to a report of a vehicle striking a pedestrian at Camino Tassajara and Wood Ranch Road.
Huang was pronounced dead, and Seltzer remained at the scene and cooperated with police, Danville Police Chief Allan Shields said.
Police determined Seltzer failed to yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk. The District Attorney’s Office charged Seltzer with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter on Sept. 7.
21 comments
Do NOT speak with the police following any collision, particularly when a collision causes injury or death. This DA has it out for well-heeled motorists who inadvertently collide with cyclists and pedestrians.
She WILL prosecute any upstanding citizen who accidentally causes a fatal collision.
DON’T tell the cops “oh my god, I didn’t see her in the cross walk” or “Jesus I’m so sorry; the rising sun was in my eyes so I couldn’t see that cyclist without bike lights in the traffic circle.” Don’t say, “it was an accident; I feel terrible.”
The authorities WILL use your cooperation against you, just as they have against uneducated defendants for years.
Just say “I need to consult my attorney before speaking with you.” Period. Unless you want a 2-5 year break from your family, grocery shopping and medical bills ….
Then the police will just write it up as they see it as the finder of facts.
This isn’t a whodunit caper. One car, one dead person in a crosswalk. Jeeze, I wonder whatever could have happened?
If you are complaining about the driver getting charged I’d like to know why? A person was killed by an act of another. Someone has to pay. The only question is how much.
Vehicular manslaughter is an lawful act done is a negligent or unlawful manner and thereby causing the death of another human being and that is exactly what occurred.
I can recall a case that was prosecuted under Yancey back in the day. A garbage truck driver ran over a woman in the crosswalk on Woodsworth Ln and Contra Costa Blvd. He was charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter and received probation which I suspect is exactly what is going to happen to Seltzer.
@janus
This is the same DA that defended LOOTERS.
Lamorinda Larry is right.
Purge law 2023 is coming. Look it up.
You have the right to remain silent. Always! Take, for example, those jailhouse interviews granted to the media. They never end well for the defendant.
Darwin
Make up your mind. Do you want people prosecuted for crimes or ONLY some people prosecuted for crimes? Which is it?
Yeah through your own negligence you killed a person who was doing nothing but obeying the law by having the nerve to walking in the crosswalk. We’ll cut you a break because you live in Danville and not prosecute you but those “other people” we want them to get hammered by the law.
@Janus – I have no opinion as to whether the driver was rightly charged here because I am not privy to the evidence. When a driver is involved in a fatal collision, speaking with the authorities before consulting a criminal defense attorney is typically antithetical to that driver’s legal interests.
Generally, it is difficult to establish prima fascia negligence or that a lawful act was committed in an unlawful manner without some corroboration. Perhaps an eyewitness observed the defendant texting, or perhaps the forensic investigation determined the driver was speeding. The DA didn’t release any any such details, though I would expect she would if any such factor was an alleged predicate act. (Public policy augers for authorities to discourage speeding and distracted driving, and including allegations to that effect on a prosecutor’s press release would certainly deter most people, at least temporarily, from speeding or texting at the wheel.)
Absent specific eyewitness statements or physical evidence, however, proving negligence or that a legal act was committed in an unlawful manner usually requires a corroborating omission from the defendant.
The absence of such predicates in the DA’s press release implies that the basis for criminal charges is less clear cut. Either way, the defendant has a better shot at dismissal or acquittal if he said nothing to the cops. Whether he SHOULD avoid a criminal conviction on moral grounds is beyond my remit.
@janus
I want a fair DA that will apply the law appropriately regardless of race. We do not have that with Becton. She is a race hustler. Just look how she handled the looters. I do not trust her.
It is always smart to not give a statement without an attorney present. That just common sense.
My insurance company used to advise us that, in the event of an accident, you were not to do anything more than exchange insurance information . Then, if you could, return to your car, sit there quietly and wait for police to arrive. You were especially told not to apologize. It might indicate that you were in the wrong, even if you weren’t.
“Anything you say can, and will, be used against ;you.”
@ Lamorinda Larry
Here is my background. I have attended basic accident investigation and I can do speed estimates from skid marks. I have conservatively investigated 500 accidents in my 30 years in Law Enforcement. I have easily review and approved probably quadruple that number as a supervisor. Everything from I parked by car and when I came back I discovered it was hit and run to pedestrians getting hit and killed in a crosswalk.
The corroborating evidence to charge him is the matching damage between the vehicle and the body. The positions of the vehicle and body upon arrival of the officers. Any debris in the roadway such as pedestrian’s literally being knocked out of their shoes as if the shoes were nailed to the roadway at the point of impact. Hair, fiber, blood and even latent fingerprints and clothing imprints on the vehicle from the pedestrian. Pieces of the vehicle imbedded into the body, pieces of the body imbedded into the vehicle. A range of speed can be determined from both impending and breaking skid marks or caged wheels. Witnesses, traffic camera or CCTV.
There is a plethora of evidence in any accident investigation in addition to circumstantial evidence such as one vehicle and one dead body or in the extreme 2 prisoner in a cell and one is murdered. There is only two choices here. It is either an accident by which I mean it was a law act done in negligent or unlawful manner causing death or it was intention, in which case it is murder. Those are your only two choices.
You can choose to do whatever you think is in your best interests and if you intentionally commit a crime by all means, keep your piehole shut but in this case, IMHO, him giving a statement help his case. Giving a statement showed what was in his mind at the time of the accident which lead to misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter and not felony vehicular manslaughter charges. Had Johannes Mehserle given a statement he wouldn’t have been facing 2nd Degree murder and voluntary manslaughter charges in addition to the more appropriate involuntary manslaughter charges.
FYI – much like the typical police press releases, the DA is not going to regurgitate the entire investigation for the public simply because inquiring minds on Claycord are interested. They are going to give you the bare basics if for no other reason then it taints the prospective jury pool.
But as always YMMV.
She was in the crosswalk, He hit her IN THE CROSSWALK. How much clearer can it be whether he said anything or not. We don’t know WHAT he said, if anything.
Failed to yield? Are there actually traffic laws anymore? Is a law a law, if it’s never enforced?
Predicting 2 years probation and 120 hours community services…
I haven’t read the circumstances of the case. Was there excessive speed involved? Was the driver texting? What was the cause of the driver not seeing the pedestrian in the crosswalk?
Isn’t that the crosswalk that the city knows has had this type of thing before and that it is a design flaw? The city has caused the issue?
Not to excuse anybody here, but if so, even a cautious driver may fall victim and not suspect?
Otherwise; throw the book at him….
The civil suit from the victims family will destroy the driver financially.
Lock him up!
Yes, you should speak with the police after a collision. You just have to be careful what you say. Like Janus sad, if you don’t speak with the police they will just write it up as they see it as the finder of facts.
I recognize a certain poster from another news site and he pretends to be a lawyer. It’s off-putting. I think he’s a paralegal.
Janus knows what he is talking about in every. single comment he posts.
The woman killed was walking in the crosswalk, thus she did nothing wrong.
The person that hit her was/is 70 years old, does he have vision problem or some other medical issue. I see nothing gained by locking him up for many years, but I think charging him is the right thing to do, and some punishment would be appropriate.
Many motorist view a crosswalk as a nuisance and don’t bother to stop. I see cars in parking lots (especially SunValley Mall) speeding like they are on a race track. When you drive in an area where people are walking and cars are pulling out, you need to slow down and pay attention.
Having said that I also see walking stepping off the curb, not bothering to look left or right so see if a car is coming, and they are not using the crosswalk. Both instances are irresponsible.
@Hanne Jeppesen- a word of caution to you or anyone thinking you are safer walking or driving in a parking lot. If it’s a private lot like a mall or grocery store it’s NOT covered by vehicle code the same as on a public street or a lot at say a government building (city,county or state) . Most times PD’s won’t take accident reports in parking lots. Sure they will respond only to have you exchange info, they will not investigate for fault. Reason, it’s not an engineered roadway and often don’t follow the same build requirements that public roadways have.
Always remember if your a pedestrian or cyclist you always lose when involved with a vehicle regardless of fault! Safer to be as cautious as possible.
I don’t take it for granted that l’m safer in a crosswalk, l look carefully to the right and left before l enter. I don’t assume cats will stop just because they are supposed to.
This video should convince anyone with common sense to never talk to the police…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE
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