Motorcyclist Charged in Bonita Death of Jogger

The motorcyclist linked to the death of a jogger along Sweetwater Road in Bonita on Nov. 5 has been charged with one count of vehicular manslaughter and two counts of driving under the influence of alcohol, the district attorney’s office said.

Stephanie Rossi, a 29-year-old Chula Vista resident, was on a late-afternoon jog when she was struck head-on by a motorcycle allegedly operated by a man who was uninsured and not licensed to operate a motorcycle. The case has stirred controversy because the California Highway Patrol allowed Jerald Covey, 29, to go to a hospital unaccompanied by officers, and he later walked out.

Covey was not given a blood-alcohol test until “two or three hours” after the accident, according to CHP officials.

If convicted on the charges, all felonies, Covey could be sentenced to a maximum of four years in state prison, a district attorney’s spokeswoman said.

Rossi’s husband of 10 years, Tom, said he is not completely satisfied with the district attorney’s decision.

“I’m pretty happy, but I was wishing for some stronger charges,” he said. “When you have had problems with some of your evidence, that’s the best that you can do.”

Frank Rockwell, the attorney representing Covey, called it “a most tragic accident and obviously my client feels terrible about it . . . but obviously I don’t think that Mr. Covey is guilty of what he’s charged, and we will successfully defend him.”

Rossi, 33, blames the CHP for “messing up” the case in the beginning, but he said the Highway Patrol has compensated by putting extra effort into the case.

Covey “had better get some time in jail,” said Rossi, who now takes care of their three children, sons 8 and 6, and a daughter, 3. “To me it’s the same as walking out with a gun and killing someone if he just gets probation.”

“At least I can go through Christmas a little bit better now because he’s been charged,” said Rossi. “Two months is a long time. I’m getting over it now, a little bit, but it was really frustrating at first.”

Jennifer Yackle, the deputy district attorney assigned to the case, declined to comment on any mishandling of the situation by the CHP, saying only that the CHP had “admitted that they wanted to have handled it better” and that “they did an excellent job of following up on the investigation.”

Blood-alcohol tests administered to Covey after the accident showed that he did have a blood-alcohol level above 0.10%, the level at which a driver is legally intoxicated, Yackle said. Yackle, however, declined to specify Covey’s blood-alcohol level.

The delay in taking a blood-alcohol test in the incident is “one factor that will have to be taken into account” in the trial, Yackle said. She refused, however, to say whether or not more serious charges could have been filed had the test been taken immediately after the accident, saying that to do so would be “pure guesswork.”

Covey will be arraigned Jan. 5 in South Bay Municipal Court.