Crime & Safety

Elderly Man Charged in Fatal Newport Bike Crash

Debra Deem, of Laguna Beach, was killed in August after being hit by a minivan while riding her bike on Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach.

An elderly man was charged last week in connection with a fatal bike crash that claimed the life of a Laguna Beach bicyclist, authorities reported.

The Orange County district attorney's office filed a misdemeanor charge of vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence on Jan. 17 against Robert James Anderson, 84, of Irvine, court records show. The charge stems from a crash that occurred on the afternoon of Aug. 28, 2013 and involved cyclist Debra H. Deem.

According to police, Deem was riding her bike along East Coast Highway and Newport Coast Drive when a minivan struck her bike. Anderson, who was behind the wheel of the minivan, made an unsafe lane change that resulted in the crash, the D.A.'s office reported.

Deem, 58, was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. She was taken to Mission Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Anderson is scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 3. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of one year in county jail.

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