Fremont vehicular manslaughter case falls apart

FREMONT — Alameda County prosecutors were unable to make charges stick against a man in his 70s who allegedly struck and killed a bicyclist while commuting to one of his two jobs at 2 a.m., court records show.

The defendant, David Tay, 72, was originally charged with vehicular manslaughter in the Nov. 9, 2022 crash that killed Ruben David Rodriguez Jr., 29, in Fremont. From the get-go, police revealed that Rodriguez’s blood/alcohol level was twice the legal limit and that he was bicycling the wrong was down Central Avenue in Fremont at the time Tay allegedly struck him.

But at Tay’s 2024 preliminary hearing, a judge threw out the manslaughter charge, finding that there wasn’t even evidence that Tay knew he’d hit anything other than scrap metal, and that a second motorist struck Rodriguez’s bicycle afterwards without noticing it. Judge Paul Delucchi also reduced the second charge, leaving the scene of an accident, from a felony to a misdemeanor, records show.

This would not survive a (motion to dismiss)m” Delucchi said at the hearing.

Last March, prosecutors threw out what was left of the case, according to court records. Before that hearing, Tay’s lawyer filed a lengthy motion to dismiss saying that Rodriguez was bicycling erratically, and had gotten off his bike and bent down at the time of the collision, leaving himself out of Tay’s line of sight. The motion also says that Tay, who was 69 at the time, worked a night shift at an Amazon center and a day shift at his son’s autobody shop each day and was commuting to the former job at the time.

Prosecutors didn’t oppose the motion to dismiss. Two members of Rodriguez’s family read victim impact statements before the case was dismissed, according to court records.