SEAL BEACH : Residents Respond in Year Since Boy’s Death

In the year since 12-year-old Christopher Schneider was struck by a car and killed on July 26, 1994, residents of this small town have mobilized to reduce speed limits and to help pass a tough law aimed at unlicensed drivers.

But the driver accused of causing the accident has yet to come to trial.

The boy was waiting to walk his bike across Seal Beach Boulevard at Anchor Way when a car swerved out of its traffic lane, according to police, forcing an adjacent car to jump the curb and strike him.

Police said the woman who was driving the first car, Seal Beach resident Cynthia Kaye Lietz, 29, fled the scene and was arrested a few minutes later. She was driving with a suspended license, according to police.

Community members responded by forming the Christopher Committee and successfully lobbied city officials to lower speed limits on Seal Beach Boulevard near McGaugh Elementary School where Christopher was standing. They also lobbied state legislators to help pass what is now considered the nation’s toughest law against unlicensed drivers. It allows the courts to seize the vehicles of unlicensed drivers caught behind the wheel.

Lietz, who was found to have trace elements of methamphetamines in her blood after the accident, is charged with vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run. She is scheduled for a pretrial hearing on Aug. 11 in West Orange County Municipal Court, but prosecutor Dennis Conway said the hearing will likely be continued to Aug. 18.

Lietz was released from county jail on $10,000 bail.

Conway said the trial has been delayed because Lietz has changed lawyers several times. She is now represented by Deputy Public Defender Mike Gianinni. Neither Lietz nor Gianinni could be reached for comment.

Christopher Committee member Renee Handler, a witness to the accident, said community members have raised $2,000 toward the $7,000 cost of creating a memorial for the boy at McGaugh School.