CANOGA PARK : Biker to Be Tried in Couple’s Deaths

A Canoga Park motorcyclist was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on charges that he caused the deaths of a Reseda couple whose car crashed into a tree during a dispute in traffic.

Martin Joseph Ruthman, 34, was scheduled to be arraigned in Van Nuys Superior Court on Aug. 25 on two counts--felony vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and felony hit and run--for the deaths of Mark and Rowena Gold.

If convicted, Ruthman, who is free on $15,000 bail, faces a maximum sentence of eight years and four months in prison.

During the one-day preliminary hearing, witnesses testified that Ruthman was riding slowly down Victory Boulevard on March 12 accompanied by two women riding motorcycles when the Golds passed him in a car. The witnesses said they saw Ruthman catch up to the Golds’ car, kick it and then cut in front of it.

The witnesses testified that the Golds’ car swerved to avoid hitting the motorcycle, then jumped the curb and crashed into a tree, killing the couple almost immediately.

Detective Duane Burris of the Los Angeles Police Department said that Ruthman told police after the accident that he never kicked the Golds car nor yelled at them, but admitted that he was trying to intimidate them because the side-view mirror of the car struck his right leg as it passed him. Earlier, Ruthman told police that he feared the Golds’ driving endangered his wife, who was just learning to ride with a woman friend.

Ruthman’s attorney, Mitchell W. Eggers, argued that his client did not cause the accident, but Deputy Dist. Atty. Andrew W. Diamond said Ruthman was “playing tag. He was vindictive and vicious.”