OXNARD : Motorist Enters Plea in Fatal Accident

An Oxnard man pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a felony charge that he killed an Ojai man while driving drunk last month.

Sabino S. Olivera, 23, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Nov. 2 on a charge of vehicular manslaughter in the Sept. 30 collision that killed William Jerry Blue, 52.

According to court records, Blue was struck from behind by a pickup truck at 4:40 p.m. while riding his motor scooter north on Vineyard Avenue near Central Avenue. A search warrant affidavit filed in Municipal Court said the driver who struck Blue was driving erratically down Vineyard Avenue at speeds up to 90 m.p.h.

Blue, a federal inspector of offshore oil platforms, died of chest injuries.

The driver of the truck fled the scene, but Olivera was arrested after an anonymous caller gave the California Highway Patrol a possible license plate number.

The search warrant says paint chips found on Blue’s body match the color of Olivera’s truck. The warrant also said Olivera told police he was driving on Vineyard at the time of the accident, but he denied being the person who struck Blue.

Witnesses to the accident told police they saw baby’s breath flowers in buckets in the back of the truck that hit Blue. During a search of the vehicle, police said they found traces of the flowers in the truck, as well as an empty beer bottle.