Elderly Driver Charged with Manslaughter

By Jorge Casuso

Jan. 5 -- George Russell Weller, the elderly driver who last July plowed through a crowded farmers market killing ten and injuring 63, was charged with vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence by the District Attorney’s office Monday.

Weller, an 87-year-old resident of Santa Monica, faces ten felony counts, one for each of the victims who were killed during his deadly two-and-a-half block ride July 16. The DA recommended that bail be set at $50,000.

Attorneys for Weller were notified to surrender him at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Airport Branch of Superior Court in Los Angeles.

"The District Attorney’s office strongly believes that this tragic incident should be addressed in the courtroom," said Sandi Gibbons, the DA's public information officer.

If convicted of all ten counts, Weller faces a sentence determined by the court that could range from probation to 18 years in state prison.

The decision to press charges comes less than three weeks after a "thorough investigation" by Santa Monica police and the California Highway Patrol concluded that Weller was driving at unsafe speeds and did not attempt to brake or take the car out of gear.

The five-month investigation, which culminated in a 917-page report, included extensive forensic testing and reconstruction of the scene, which unfolded along the 1,000-foot stretch of Arizona Avenue where Weller's 1992 Buick LaSabre was engaged in 100 separate collisions.

Weller is charged in the deaths of Theresa Bregalia, 50, of Bronx, N.Y.; Brendon Esfahani, 7 months, of Los Angeles; Molok Ghoulian, 62, of Los Angeles; Gloria Gonzalez, 35, of Venice; Movsha Hoffman, 78, of Santa Monica; Leroy Lattier, 55, a transient; Diana McCarthy, 41, of New York, N.Y.; Kevin McCarthy, 50, of New York, N.Y.; Cindy Valladares, 3, of Los Angeles; and Lynne Ann Weaver, 47, of Woodland Hills.