Motorcyclist in High-Speed Chase Gets 2 Years for Motorist’s Death

An 18-year-old North Hollywood motorcyclist who three months ago led police on a high-speed chase that caused the death of a motorist was sentenced Tuesday to two years in California Youth Authority custody.

Robert Wade Still pleaded guilty last month to vehicular manslaughter in the April 5 death of David Malekian, a 54-year-old pizza parlor operator killed when his pickup collided with a squad car pursuing Still.

Still’s motorcycle ran three red lights during the chase through Sun Valley and reached speeds of 70 m.p.h., Los Angeles police said.

Still, an unemployed high school dropout who lived with his mother, has a lengthy record of burglary and misdemeanor arrests, according to court records.

“He evaded police because he has been involved in so many crimes that he never knows when the police might be looking for him for a crime that he committed,” a probation officer stated in a report.

The report, presented at Still’s sentencing before Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Alan B. Haber, attributed Malekian’s death to the “grossly irresponsible behavior of a young man who has basically functioned in the community as a thief.”

The chase began, police said, when Officer Lee Glozer spotted Still and his brother, Earl William Still, 20, also of North Hollywood, drag racing near Lankershim Boulevard and Tuxford Street in Sun Valley.

The brothers split up, police said, and Glozer, with siren and lights activated, pursued Robert Still south on Tujunga Avenue. After the motorcycle raced through a red light at the intersection of Strathern Street, the officer slowed to about 40 m.p.h. and followed, but his patrol car was struck broadside by Malekian’s truck, prosecutors said.

Malekian, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the truck and pronounced dead at the scene. The officer suffered minor injuries.

Still fled and was apprehended 20 minutes later at his home, police said.

He was on probation for a burglary offense at the time of the collision, and was driving with a suspended license and no insurance, according to court records.

“All I saw were the red lights, and I got scared and took off,” the probation report quoted him as saying.