Left: Stanley Isaacs (GoFundMe). Inset: The Laguna Beach, California, intersection where Isaacs was killed by a hit-and-run driver (Google Maps).
A California woman drove into a couple crossing the street after an anniversary dinner, killing the husband and injuring his wife, prosecutors said.
Sysillia Kianna Morrison Montes De Oca was convicted of gross vehicular manslaughter, hit-and-run causing serious injury and failing to stop after the crash that killed 60-year-old Stanley Isaacs.
Montes De Oca was 18 when she was driving a Volkswagen Jetta shortly after 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 11, 2022, in Laguna Beach. Isaacs and his wife had just finished celebrating their anniversary at a nearby restaurant and were crossing the road when the vehicle struck them.
Isaacs was later pronounced dead, while his wife survived with injuries. Montes De Oca did not stop and continued driving.
According to courtroom coverage by the Orange County Register, Isaacs suffered an internal decapitation, a skull fracture, a broken spine and “smashed ribs.”
After leaving the scene, Montes De Oca reportedly searched online for reports about fatal hit-and-run crashes. She also returned to the location but did not surrender. Prosecutors said she had smoked marijuana earlier that day and told others in the car that she was speeding up shortly before the collision.
“It was not an ordinary mistake,” Deputy District Attorney Justin Kim told jurors, according to the Register.
Montes De Oca reportedly asked a friend to hide the car before turning herself in to police approximately two weeks later.
During closing arguments, her defense attorney said she panicked and drove away after friends urged her to leave. The attorney also pointed out that Montes De Oca eventually surrendered and that authorities never established her precise speed at the time of the crash.
Isaacs’ stepdaughter described him in a GoFundMe post as a “loving father, grandfather, brother, son and husband.”
“My step dad was one of a kind. When he walked into any room, you couldn’t miss his gracious smile. He never failed to bring joy to the people in his lives. He is loved by so many people; he was unforgettable,” she wrote.
Montes De Oca is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 13.
The post Man walking with wife after anniversary dinner suffers ‘internal decapitation’ when driver smashes into them, leaves him to die on street first appeared on Law & Crime.
