Death Of Moraga Car Theft Suspect Was An Accident, Inquest Finds

An inquest into the death of a 27-year-old San Leandro woman killed in Orinda after attempting to flee police in a stolen pickup truck ended Tuesday when jurors found her death was an accident.

A 12-person jury took just 15 minutes to reach that finding after an inquest into the death of Christina E. Ramos heard evidence detailing her numerous prior arrests for theft, car theft and evading police. Ramos died Jan. 25 when the stolen pickup she was driving struck a power pole on Miner Road.

A forensic pathologist testified that Ramos died of blunt force head injury and "would only have survived a few minutes" after the pickup severed a power pole at about 60 mph and came to rest against a tree. The impact nearly tore the truck in half. Dr. Arnold Josselson testified that Ramos had methamphetamine in her system at the time of death.

Under questioning from Hearing Officer Matthew Guichard, witnesses said the bizarre chain-reaction of events started at 7:35 a.m. Jan. 25, after a car was reported stolen from a Moraga home.

Detective Garrett Schiro, a homicide investigator with the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department, said homeowner Danielle Cirelli reported her Subaru stolen at that time and, in a particularly unusual turn of events, called again at 2:27 p.m. to report that she was driving behind her stolen Subaru and her Ford F250 pickup truck on Moraga Way.

Schiro said investigation determined the Subaru had been stolen with the Ford's keys in its glovebox and that the thieves went back to Cirelli's home and took the truck without her knowledge until, after picking up her child from school, she found herself driving behind both vehicles as they made their way out of Moraga on Moraga Way.

Deputy Ronald Westhorpe, a 14-year veteran of the sheriff's department, which contracts its officers and services to the City of Orinda, said he was on routine traffic enforcement duty at Glorietta Boulevard when he heard the dispatch that a citizen was following a stolen car and moved to intercept.

Westhorpe said he saw a Hispanic female wearing dark rimmed sunglasses in the F250 as it sped past him on Moraga Way heading north. Westhorpe fell in behind and activated his emergency lights.

"She initially yielded," he said, testifying that the driver pulled to the side of the road, looked at him in her rearview mirror and then pulled away at speeds estimated at 70 to 80 mph on Moraga Way.

Westhorpe described the next several seconds: the Ford continued to pull away from him, splitting lanes, running a red light and sideswiping another car as the driver sped under Highway 24 and "gunned it."

"When I came around the corner I saw a cloud of smoke," Westhorpe said. "I pulled over and saw the truck. The power lines were down. I called for Code 3 (lights and sirens) fire..."

Officer Tricia Richardson said she was "10 car lengths behind Westhorpe" and pulled up to see the dust and smoke from the crash rising on Miner Road, the power pole "free and swinging." Officers used fire extinguishers to put out a small fire.

Neither officer reported seeing any movement in the truck. They testified that they cleared the area to make way for PG&E crews arriving to de-power the overhead lines.

At no time did a police car make physical contact with the fleeing pickup, witnesses said. The Subaru, believed to be carrying two people Lamorinda Patch has been told came to Moraga with Ramos with the intention of stealing a car, was found abandoned in Lafayette. Its two occupants have yet to be located, though Moraga Police Chief Robert Priebe said Tuesday his department's case is nearly ready for presentation and review by the District Attorney's Office.