No jail in crash that killed crossing guard
A woman who pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter after her SUV struck and killed an on-duty school crossing guard in Lafayette last year has been given probation and community service by a Contra Costa County judge.
Phyllis Meehan, 79, was driving a GMC Yukon in Lafayette on Sept. 8, 2021, when she hit Ashley Dias, 45, a clinical researcher at a biotech firm who volunteered as a crossing guard at Stanley Middle School. According to the accounts of school parents who saw the accident, Dias had rushed into the intersection to push students out of the way of the oncoming car. One student was hit and suffered minor injuries, but Dias was dragged under the vehicle.
Arriving police officers administered CPR, and Dias was rushed to John Muir hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
According to news reports, Meehan was driving to the school to pick up her grandson when her car collided with another vehicle that caused Meehan’s Yukon to accelerate into the intersection, hitting Dias. Meehan reportedly stopped and cooperated with police at the scene. In December she was charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter, pleading no contest.
Her sentence was handed down May 16 by Judge Joni Hiramoto in Contra Costa County Superior Court in Martinez, according to Ted Asregadoo of the county district attorney’s office. During her one-year probation she will not be allowed to operate a motor vehicle. She was also sentenced to 100 hours of community service.
Meehan wrote a letter of apology to members of the Dias family, some of whom were in the courtroom for the sentencing and played a video presentation dedicated to him, Asregadoo said.
Meehan is a resident of Lafayette, as was Dias. He had graduated from Acalanes High School in Lafayette and received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from San Francisco State University.
He had been volunteering as a crossing guard at Stanley Middle School because his niece is a student there. He had been working a different shift at the school but had switched shifts due to a shortage.
Because of Dias’ heroics in saving children, his family was honored with courtside seats at a Golden State Warriors game last fall.