CANOGA PARK : Motorcyclist Pleads Innocent in Deaths
A Canoga Park motorcyclist pleaded not guilty Wednesday to felony manslaughter and hit and run in the deaths of a Reseda couple with whom he had a traffic dispute.
Martin Ruthman, 33, is charged in connection with the March 12 crash on Victory Boulevard in Reseda that killed Mark and Rowena Gold. Police said that the Golds died immediately when their car swerved to avoid Ruthman’s motorcycle, jumping a curb and hitting a tree.
Immediately before the crash, police said that Ruthman, angry that the driver, Mark Gold, 45, had passed him on the right, pulled alongside the car, kicked at the passenger door and shouted angrily at the couple.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 28 in Van Nuys Municipal Court.
Ruthman, who is free on $15,000 bail, could be imprisoned for eight years, eight months, if convicted of two counts of felony vehicular manslaughter and one count of felony hit and run, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert P. Imerman.
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