Driver in Freeway Explosion Faces Misdemeanor Charge

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office brought a misdemeanor criminal charge Tuesday against a 33-year-old Simi Valley woman, accusing her of causing a crash that killed a fuel truck driver whose tanker exploded in flames near Chatsworth on Dec. 13.

Lynn Roseberry was charged with one count of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter, which carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. Roseberry was critically injured in the accident on the westbound Simi Freeway that claimed the life of Mobil Oil Co. trucker Amilcar Alvarenga, 51, of Whittier.

Prosecutors allege that Roseberry triggered the accident when she lost control of her van near the top of the DeSoto Avenue onramp and entered the freeway driving at a 60-degree angle, said Ted Goldstein, a city attorney’s spokesman.

The truck driver, who was bringing a load of gasoline to a Mobil station in Simi Valley, tried to avoid hitting the wayward van, but the two vehicles collided, Goldstein said. The tanker then spun across the freeway and was broadsided by another truck. An explosion followed, engulfing the tanker in flames. The second truck driver escaped injury.

Goldstein said the district attorney’s office decided not to bring a felony charge in the case.

He would not say specifically what convinced the city attorney’s office, which prosecutes misdemeanors, that Roseberry was to blame for the accident. Prosecutors made the decision after looking at several factors, including a CHP accident report, he said.

Roseberry is scheduled to be arraigned on April 10 in San Fernando Municipal Court.