RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- The grading company that owned a dump truck involved in a fatal crash in 2006 has pleaded no contest to a criminal charge and agreed to pay $10,000 to the victim's family.
Clark Grading, Inc. of Riverside pleaded no contest on Tuesday in West Valley Superior Court to vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. The charge was reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor.
On June 16, 2006, the truck's brakes failed at the northern end of Archibald Avenue in Rancho Cucamonga. The truck descended the street without slowing, running through red lights and reaching speeds of up to 70 mph.
When it reached Arrow Highway it collided with a Ford F-250 driven by longtime Rancho Cucamonga city employee Angel Calzada.
Calzada, 51, was killed in the crash.
Prosecutors filed gross vehicular manslaughter charges in 2007 against Clark Grading and the driver of the dump truck, Adam Ahlberg, alleging the company and Ahlberg failed to properly maintain the truck's braking system.
Ahlberg was acquitted of felony charges last year, but a jury deadlocked in its deliberations over a misdemeanor. Prosecutors later dropped all charges against him.
Deputy District Attorney Charles Feibush said today that the $10,000 restitution fine paid by Clark Grading is the maximum allowed in this instance under the Penal Code.
"I thought and the (victim's) family thought that that was a reasonable resolution," Feibush said.