Trucker May Face Charge in Fatal Crash

Investigators with the California Highway Patrol may recommend that a vehicular manslaughter charge be filed against a Simi Valley man in connection with Tuesday’s fatal three-car accident on California 118 near Moorpark.

William Smith, 44, has been identified as the driver of a big rig that may have caused the accident, said CHP Officer Dave Cockrill.

During an interview with investigators the day after the accident, Smith told authorities he remembered swerving his truck to avoid cars stopped in front of him, but that he did not know that an accident had occurred.

The accident, which killed 25-year-old Kaiya Ann Meyers of Camarillo, may have been triggered when Meyers veered out of the path of a truck that swerved into her lane, Cockrill said.

The drivers of two other cars were also injured in the accident that occurred about 10 a.m. Tuesday just east of La Cumbre Road, on the 118 Highway between Moorpark and Somis.

Investigators said that witnesses saw a truck headed westbound and hauling two large gravel trailers veer into oncoming traffic.

Meyers, who was eastbound, apparently swerved onto the right shoulder of the highway to avoid the truck. She then apparently overcorrected, went back across the two lanes of traffic and was broadsided by a van headed westbound, which was then hit by another car, Cockrill said.

Investigators received a tip from a witness who said it was Smith’s truck that had veered into the oncoming lanes, forcing Meyers to take evasive action. The truck was found later in the day and impounded, and Smith was questioned after he contacted authorities about his truck, Cockrill said.

Anyone with information on the accident is asked to call the CHP at 654-4571.