Gilroy
– The driver who inadvertently killed an elderly Gilroy man last
October turned himself in to police Monday, then posted bail,
awaiting a May court date.
Gilroy – The driver who inadvertently killed an elderly Gilroy man last October turned himself in to police Monday, then posted bail, awaiting a May court date.
Stephen Richard Lake, 28, self-surrendered at 4pm Monday, on a $5,000 warrant for vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence. Police records list him as a Clovis resident, but Lake said he was from Gilroy. He declined to speak further.
Lake was driving a Dodge pickup truck down Wren Avenue the evening of Sunday, Oct. 15 when he struck Norman Watenpaugh, a 76-year-old environmentalist nicknamed “the Birdman of Gilroy.” As he crossed near El Cerrito Way, Watenpaugh was only a block from home, where an hour earlier he celebrated his birthday with his family.
Police investigated the accident, then turned over their findings to the district attorney’s office. In early February, deputy district attorney Amir Alem decided to file charges against Lake. The same week, district attorney Frank Carrubba decided not to file charges against the driver who struck and killed 5-year-old Julio Gonzalez, only days after Watenpaugh died on Wren Avenue. The nearly-simultaneous decisions confused some Gilroy residents, despite explanations by Carrubba and Alem. Police have declined to release the name of the driver who hit Gonzalez, saying that the case might be reopened for investigation in the future.
Lake is scheduled to be arraigned at 9am May 15, at Superior Court in San Martin.
