Man Pleads No Contest To Fatal Half Moon Bay Crash

HALF MOON BAY, CA -- A 30-year-old man pleaded no contest Tuesday to felony hit-and-run causing death for hitting and killing a bicyclist on state Highway 1 near Half Moon Bay last year, prosecutors said today.

Angel Gabriel Gongora-Mis is accused of striking 44-year-old Half Moon Bay resident Edward Wade on April 29, 2017, on northbound Highway 1 near Furtado Lane.

Wade was knocked off his bike and died, and his bicycle was caught underneath Gongora-Mis' vehicle as he drove away from the scene. San Mateo County sheriff's deputies found him about a mile away with the bicycle still caught under his car, prosecutors said.

Gongora-Mis claimed he did not know he had struck a bicyclist and thought he had merely hit a guardrail, according to the district attorney's office.

Prosecutors delayed filing charges for about nine months because of a long investigation into the collision that did not find any evidence of alcohol or drug use or inattention due to cellphone use.

Gongora-Mis entered the no contest plea on the condition of a sentence of up to one year in county jail with no state prison time. The plea agreement was with Judge Stephanie Garratt rather than prosecutors, who had
sought a sentence of up to two years in state prison.

The defendant will return to court on Nov. 8 for sentencing. He remains out of custody on $60,000 bail. His defense attorney Maria Fonseca was not immediately available to comment on the case.

--Bay City News/Shutterstock image