Driver Who Fled After Killing 72-Year-Old SMC Woman In Crosswalk Pleads Not Guilty: DA

REDWOOD CITY, CA — A Redwood City man pleaded not guilty Monday to charges stemming from a hit-and-run crash that killed a 72-year-old woman last month, the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office said.

Francisco Gallardo Alvarez, 52, denied charges of hit-and-run driving resulting in death and vehicular manslaughter, prosecutors said.

According to prosecutors, Alvarez was driving a Toyota Tundra on Middlefield Road on the night of May 24 when he struck Maria Perez Torres, who was crossing the street inside a crosswalk at Cedar Street.

After the collision, Alvarez looked at the victim and then accelerated away from the scene and went home, the DA's office said.

Torres died from her injuries about an hour later at a local hospital.

Investigators located surveillance footage the day after the crash that captured the collision and identified the suspect vehicle as a late-model white Toyota Tundra.

Detectives said they tracked the truck to Gallardo Alvarez's Redwood City residence and had it towed as evidence.

He surrendered to police four days after the crash and was booked into San Mateo County's Maguire Correctional Facility, police said.