Judge Orders Driver to Stand Trial in 1998 Crash That Killed Deputy

A 37-year-old former Ventura resident was ordered Thursday to stand trial on vehicular manslaughter charges in a crash that killed Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputy Lisa Whitney last August.

Tanya Pittman will be tried on two vehicular manslaughter charges, one a felony and the other a misdemeanor, ruled Superior Court Judge Art Gutierrez. She also faces other charges and could face up to 14 years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors allege that Pittman was driving under the influence of drugs and was speeding when she plowed into Whitney’s unmarked patrol car last Aug. 12.

The accident occurred at 6:50 p.m. at the intersection of Telephone and Hill roads, near the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura. Whitney, 28, was headed to Camarillo to interview witnesses in a criminal case she was investigating.

According to witnesses who testified Thursday at Pittman’s preliminary hearing, the stoplight at Hill and Telephone was not functioning and cars were stopping to take turns driving through the busy intersection.

As Whitney’s car slowly pulled forward, witnesses said, a pickup truck barreled into the intersection and slammed into the deputy’s vehicle.

Two witnesses identified Pittman as the driver, and two others said she appeared to be speeding. One witness said he heard screeching brakes before the crash, suggesting Pittman may have tried to stop to avoid a collision.

Another witness, Donna Hill, told the judge that she jumped out of her car and ran to help Whitney.

Hill, a nurse at Community Memorial Hospital, said she checked Whitney’s vital signs and found her unresponsive.

As part of his investigation, Ventura Police Cpl. John Turner told the judge, he reconstructed the accident and determined that just before the crash, Pittman was driving 56 mph, 11 mph over the posted speed limit.

Turner also reviewed the results of a blood sample Pittman voluntarily gave at the hospital two hours after the crash. That test showed that she had small amounts of two drugs in her system: methamphetamine, which is an illegal stimulant, and a prescription muscle relaxant commonly known as Soma, according to court testimony.

“In my opinion, I feel as though driver Pittman was under the influence at the time,” Turner said.

But on cross examination, Turner acknowledged that he was not certain to what degree Pittman may have been impaired.

Under questioning by defense attorney James Farley, the officer also testified that Pittman became “very emotional” when he told her at the hospital that a woman had been killed in the crash.

Farley asked Turner how well a driver could see under the conditions--headed westbound on Telephone Road just before sunset. Farley also pointed out that one witness said he didn’t notice the stoplight was inoperable until just before he approached the intersection.

But Turner testified that the conditions wouldn’t have impaired the defendant’s vision to the point she couldn’t see cars stopped at the intersection.

The final witness to testify Thursday was a former police officer and now a narcotics expert who told the judge that based on his review of medical records in the case, Pittman was driving under the influence of drugs at the time of the accident.

He added, however, that the amount of Soma in Pittman’s system suggested that she took a therapeutic dose of about 350 milligrams six to eight hours before the car accident.