Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Emergency workers take information and provide aid to the driver of a car involved in a fatal accident.

Driver charged in fatal car accident on Summit Road

By Shari Kaplan

According to the Santa Cruz office of the California Highway Patrol, drunken driving was a factor in a fatal automobile accident on Summit Road March 18 near the entrance of C.T. English Middle School.

Los Gatan Edward Traster, who lived in the Santa Cruz mountains, was killed at about 5:30 p.m. that evening when the car he was riding in spun out of control off eastbound Summit Road and struck a tree and a chainlink fence.

The fence apparently bounced the car away in the opposite direction, causing it to roll over, according to Captain Kay Price of the Burrell station of the California Department of Forestry, whose fire crews responded to the accident along with an ambulance and the California Highway Patrol. Price said Traster was not wearing a seat belt and was partially ejected from the car. One of two dogs riding in the car was also killed.

CHP officers suspected the driver, Los Gatan Deborah Thompson, of being intoxicated but did not act at the time because Thompson was taken by ambulance to Valley Medical Center. After being treated for minor injuries and released, she was interviewed by the CHP, arrested and booked at the Santa Cruz County Jail, according to Officer Dane Lobb.

She was arraigned March 21 in Santa Cruz County Superior Court on a felony charge of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney John Hopkins. Special allegations--considered "sentence enhancements"--were also added to the charge, based on Thompson's two prior misdemeanor convictions for driving under the influence; her one prior felony conviction for driving under the influence and causing injury; and her previous prison time.

As of last week, Thompson was still in custody on $50,000 bail. Hopkins said Thompson could receive 16 years to life in prison when sentenced. Thompson and Traster were not related, Hopkins said.