No Criminal Charges Filed Against Driver in Fatal Livermore Gym Crash

LIVERMORE, CA: No criminal charges will be filed against an elderly driver who mistook the gas pedal for the brake and accelerated into a Livermore gym, killing one and injuring five others last September, officials with the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said.

“The DA’s Office declined to file criminal charges,” Alameda County spokesperson Teresa Drenick told Patch.

Drenick did not comment about what led to the decision.

Police officials believe the 80-year-old driver was attempting to park her car at the LifeStyleRx health club at the time of the tragic crash.

Livermore Police received multiple 911 calls on September 22 around 6:26 a.m. after the white 2013 Mercedes accelerated through the glass doors, traveling nearly 70 feet through the ground floor of the building, eventually colliding into an exercise classroom. Those injured were taken to a local hospital for treatment. Livermore resident Katheryn “Kathy” Baker, an executive at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, eventually succumbed to her injuries, and died at the hospital while being treated.

Baker, 49, of Livermore, was the chief financial officer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, according to laboratory spokeswoman Lynda Seaver.

While conducting the investigation after the collision, police discovered that the same woman had driven her car onto the sidewalk near the gym about a year before the fatal crash. Police officials said they were not made aware of the sidewalk incident, which was witnessed by gym employees, until the crash on September 22.

Related:

• Driver in Fatal Gym Crash Has History of Parking Problems

According to the a report in the Contra Costa Times, Baker’s husband, Jeff Baker, has since filed a civil lawsuit against the driver, Mineko J. Deakin, her husband and the gym.

LifeStyleRx, located at 1119 East Stanley in Livermore, is a 70,000-square-foot gym and wellness center that is part of the Stanford Health Care - ValleyCare system. The facility was shuttered for several days following the collision.

Bay City News contributed to this report.

Photo courtesy Livermore Police Facebook