Woodside Ride – one year later
Posted twice last year regarding our Ride from Fremont to Woodside. The first post was about the ride and the accident we saw. The second post was about the news the next day that a cyclist was killed. Today we learn that the 69 year old driver was sentence to 90 days in jail and 3 years probation. From this mornings Chronicle:
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
A 69-year-old Colorado man was sentenced Tuesday to 90 days in jail and three years’ probation for killing a Menlo Park elementary school teacher a year ago when he accidentally swerved his car into a bicycle lane where she was riding in Woodside.
Theodore Charles Thornbrough of Westminster, Colo., told police he was looking for the on-ramp to Interstate 280 on Oct. 2, 2005, when his Mercedes-Benz drifted into the bicycle lane on Woodside Road, hitting Michelle Mazzei of Redwood City.
Mazzei, 34, was taken to Stanford Medical Center, where she died. Thornbrough pleaded no contest Aug. 11 in San Mateo County Superior Court to misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter in the Oak Knoll School teacher’s death.
Mazzei’s mother, sister and two friends addressed the court at sentencing, remembering a woman known for her athleticism and fondness for the outdoors.
“They lost a very good person,” prosecutor Josh Stauffer said after leaving the Redwood City courtroom. He described the 90-day sentence as reasonable.
Thornbrough was not speeding, was not on a cell phone and had not been drinking, defense attorney Brendan Conroy said. Thornbrough has no criminal record.
“He’s crushed,” Conroy said after the sentencing. “Obviously, the victim’s family is more crushed.”
Thornbrough will serve his time in Adams County, Colo., Conroy said
