SIMI VALLEY : Driver Charged in Pedestrian’s Death
Ventura County prosecutors have charged a Simi Valley man, who is accused of running over a 54-year-old man, with vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and evading arrest.
Michael Rodriguez, 39, is being held at Ventura County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail. He was charged Tuesday and is set to be arraigned April 28, said Deputy Public Defender William Markov.
Rodriguez was arrested Friday after his car hit several parked cars and struck Raphael Lachmiller, who was walking from his car to his family’s house on Whitcomb Avenue in Simi Valley, police said. Lachmiller died later from injuries.
An off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy in the area saw Rodriguez’s vehicle strike two parked cars and followed him, police said. The deputy then saw Rodriguez’s vehicle hit Lachmiller, police said.
Rodriguez’s vehicle ran a stop light while police were chasing him, and his car finally stopped when he crashed into a planter, police said.
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