Driver of van in Pollock Pines crash that injured several children won’t face criminal charges, DA says

(FOX40.COM) — The District Attorney’s Office for El Dorado County announced on Friday that it will not be filing charges against the driver who struck several children with their van in Pollock Pines last May.

On May 31, an employee of an appliance business was driving a company van to a job in Pollock Pines. While heading west on the Pony Express Trail near Oak Street, he drove “directly into a large group of children” who were crossing the street.
•Video Above: May 31, 2023 coverage of Pollock Pines crash

Several children were “seriously injured” and one child required an “extensive hospital stay” because of head trauma caused by the crash, the District Attorney’s Office said in a press release.

CHP holds meeting with Pollock Pines community after crash injured 5 children

According to CHP reports of the incident, no alcohol or drug impairment played a role in the crash, but the driver found at fault and cited for driving at an unsafe speed of about 40 mph when the posted speed limit was 35 mph.

The agency added that the man said, “he thought he might have been looking down at his GPS and when he looked up, he could see kids in the roadway and applied the brakes.”

However, according to the DA, there is not enough evidence to show that the driver was aware that his driving posed a “substantial and unjustifiable risk of harm to others,” and that he intentionally ignored that risk.

“The facts from this investigation show a driver who was distracted and unaware that there was a large group of pedestrians in a crosswalk directly in front of his vehicle,” the press release read.

“For this reason, the facts wouldn’t satisfy the legal requirements for the filing of a criminal charge for reckless driving causing injury…there are insufficient grounds for the filing of criminal charges against the suspect,” the DA’s Office said.

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