Charges Dismissed Against Mentally Incompetent Defendant Who Struck, Killed SSU Professor

SONOMA COUNTY, CA - Charges have been dismissed in Sonoma County Superior Court against a Rohnert Park man who allegedly struck and killed a Sonoma State University environmental studies professor with his truck in 2012.

The complaint against Robert Ernest Cowart, now 72, was dismissed on March 14 in the interest of justice when it was determined Cowart is not capable of being restored to mental competency.

Cowart was charged with felony hit-and-run and misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence for the collision between his Dodge truck and Steve Norwick's bicycle on Petaluma Hill Road in Penngrove on June 8, 2012.

At the onset of the lengthy criminal proceedings, Cowart's attorney George Boisseau said his client had recently suffered a stroke, had an aneurysm in his neck and was hard of hearing.

Norwick, 68, who retired from SSU the month before the collision, was struck from behind. He was in a coma until he died 11 days later. Criminal proceedings were suspended pending mental health evaluations to determine if Cowart was competent to understand the proceedings and participate in his defense.

He appeared at court dates in a wheelchair. Cowart's neighbor, an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer, was working in front of his house on June 8 when Cowart's truck arrived home around 4:30 p.m., according to the CHP. The truck had right front damage and its right side mirror was missing, and a Dodge truck mirror was found at the collision site, CHP officials said.

Cowart told a Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety sergeant he was involved in a collision with a bicyclist on June 8, but he didn't believe the bicyclist was injured.

Video from a surveillance camera at a Penngrove business showed a Dodge truck driving south through Penngrove shortly after the collision, according to the CHP. Cowart was arrested later on June 8 after he was questioned further by the CHP.

--Bay City News/File photo