VAN NUYS : Hit-and-Run Suspect Pleads Not Guilty

A Woodland Hills woman accused of running over a 13-year-old boy who had just stepped off of a school bus pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of vehicular manslaughter and hit and run driving.

Joan H. Mills, 59, faces the felony charges in the Nov. 19 accident that killed Matthew Fischer at the intersection of Oxnard Avenue and Shoup Street.

Matthew was crossing Shoup in the crosswalk when he was struck, according to police.

Van Nuys Municipal Judge Leland B. Harris scheduled a Jan. 13 preliminary hearing. Until that time, Mills will remain free on $15,000 bail.

Police reports indicate Mills may have been distracted following a minor traffic dispute when she allegedly struck Matthew, throwing him into the air as several other school children watched from inside the bus.

Witnesses saw Mills drive through a red light, police said. Matthew was transported to the Humana-West Hills Regional Medical Center, where he died half an hour after he was hit.

Mills drove home after the accident, according to authorities, but her husband later returned to the scene and reported that Mills believed she had hit a dog.