Sacramento DA will not immediately file charges in crash that killed 9-year-old
The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office has declined to file charges against a driver whom police suspected of killing a 9-year-old girl in a hit-and-run collision last week, calling for further investigation.
The Sacramento Police Department announced Friday that a driver had been arrested in the Oak Park car crash, which killed Avianna Hill, 9, at 36th Street and 19th Avenue Thursday night. The little girl was riding a mini motorbike with her father when a driver struck the pair. Her father was hospitalized with severe injuries.
A spokesperson for the district attorney said that the woman arrested in the case would not be arraigned today.
“Our office recently received the initial reports regarding this matter, but additional information is needed,” the spokesperson, Shelly Orio, said in an emailed statement. “As such, this case will be declined pending additional follow-up investigation. Once all necessary reports have been received and reviewed, we will make a filing decision.”
A 2023 Bee investigation found that local law enforcement agencies in Sacramento and across the country have historically struggled to solve hit-and-run cases. But many fatal crashes in the city result in no arrests or charges because police determine that no crime was committed.
Hill, whose loved ones have started a GoFundMe to help pay for funeral costs, is the youngest person to die in a crash in the California capital this year. The next-youngest was Ariana Yaretzi Ayala Munoz, 19. The city has pledged to eliminate such deadly collisions by 2027.
At least 21 more people have died in collisions on Sacramento streets this year, according to previous Sacramento Bee reporting. Since Jan. 1, crashes have killed Reema Ram, 37; Maria Aurora Victoria Titman, 29; Christian David Garcia Flores, 31; Eunice La Vonne Queener, 67; Paris Lamar Johnson, 34; Ronald Howard, 68; Kalia Giselle Cabello Fernandez, 22; Josefina D. Guzman, 45; Dwayne Andrew Henderson, 44; Domonik Frederick Gross, 33; Habiba Safi, 33; Miguel Ramirez Padilla, 23; William Douglas Wradge, 27; Rule Allah Yahya Smith, 32; David Mordecai Meyer, 38; Forrest Murray Coss, 70; Lue Lawrence Powell, 53; Trevon Hayes, 31; James Derek Williams, 69; and two people whose names have not yet been released by the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office.
