The City of Atwater bears sole culpability for the 2010 death of 73-year-old pedestrian Delia Gonzales, a Monterey County Grand Jury concluded Monday. The city has been ordered to pay $3.2 million in damages for its role in the tragedy.
The verdict absolved the vehicle’s driver, Michelle Carrizales, of any wrongdoing, concluding instead that poor street conditions were mostly to blame. Jurors held that city officials were long aware of the dangerous state of the Bellevue Road and Linden Street intersection but failed to take proper action leading up to the fatal collision.
The lawsuit was filed by Gonzalez’s surviving spouse, who faulted the intersection’s “negligent design” for his wife’s death. Gonzalez is the third person to have died at that intersection since 2002.
“They laid it at the feet of the city, as they should,” said the family’s attorney, Roger Dreyer. “The message it sends, not just to the city of Atwater, but for all public entities, is that they have to do their job.”
Former City Council Member Andy Krotik said the intersection was a focus of numerous discussions before Gonzales’s death and expressed incredulity at the failure to fix it. Since 2010, several steps have been taken to improve safety along Atwater’s roadways, including the addition of a dozen lighted crosswalks.
Attorneys for the city said they were disappointed by the jury’s verdict and believe the driver should have carried some of the responsibility. They are planning to appeal the decision.
Read more about Monday’s verdict here