The Marin County District Attorney’s Office has charged a 21-year-old Point Reyes man with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated for a crash that killed a Tomales High student last spring. Hit-and-run charges were also filed against the man, Josuep Macías Mendoza, in connection with the April 15 crash that killed Ramón Romo Zúñiga, who was 16, and badly injured Mr. Macías’s brother Juan Macías, also 16.
Mr. Macías was released from jail while authorities conducted a six-month investigation of the incident. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 22 in Marin County Superior Court.
The charging documents state that Mr. Macías was speeding and made an unsafe turn that resulted in the crash on the Marshall-Petaluma Road at around 6:15 p.m. Mr. Macías was heading west when the Infiniti Q-60 he was driving plunged off the road and down a hillside, striking a tree, where it came to rest.
A helicopter transported Juan Macías and Mr. Romo to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where Mr. Romo died the next day.
According to an initial report filed by the California Highway Patrol, Mr. Macías fled on foot but later returned to the scene of the crash. Medics transported him to the MarinHealth Medical Center for treatment of his injuries, including a broken wrist and a fractured vertebra in his neck. Police later booked him into Marin County Jail and charged him with driving under the influence of alcohol.
Mr. Romo’s death shocked his classmates at Tomales High, where he was a junior, and compounded the grief of his family, who had lost their Valley Ford home in a fire one month before the crash. A week later, 150 of his classmates crowded the Catholic Church of the Assumption in Tomales for a memorial service.
Evangelina Saldaña, Mr. Romo’s aunt, said his family is still grieving his death and the loss of their home. She said she has mixed feelings about the district attorney’s decision to prosecute Mr. Macías.
“Young kids have to learn that there is a consequence for everything,” she said. “I’m feeling the loss we have had, but I can also feel how his family feels. It’s just hard for both sides. This has been awful.”
Before the fire, Mr. Romo lived with his father, Jorge, his younger sister, Ramina, and his younger brother, Román, on a Valley Ford ranch. The family is now living with relatives in Petaluma and commuting to Tomales Elementary School each day.
“It’s so hard for everyone,” said Ms. Saldaña, whose children are still struggling with the loss of their cousin. “They were really close to him.”
Roy Miller, Mr. Macías’s attorney, echoed her sentiments.
“Josuep and his family grieve for his friend Ramón’s death and the injuries suffered by his brother in the accident,” Mr. Miller said. “This process has been difficult for everyone involved and he understands this is but the start of another difficult process for both families.”