Caitlyn Jenner will not be charged in connection with a four-vehicle crash on the Pacific Coast Highway earlier this year that left a female motorist dead, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.
In declining to file charges against the reality television star and former Olympian, the DA’s office stated in a charge evaluation sheet that prosecutors simply could not prove Jenner’s conduct was unreasonable “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department had previously recommended that Jenner be charged with manslaughter.
Jenner was driving and towing a buggy on the PCH in Malibu on Feb. 7 when her vehicle rear ended Kimberly Howe’s white Lexus, forcing it to veer into oncoming traffic on the other side of the roadway, the DA’s office said.
The 69-year-old victim died when her car collided with a black Hummer.
Jenner’s vehicle was traveling slightly below the posted speed limit on the highway, and minimally slower than the victim’s car, the DA’s office said.
Then, approximately 4.2 seconds before the crash, Howe braked and her vehicle started to slow. Jenner stepped off the gas pedal and, less than 2 seconds before impact, engaged the brake, the charge sheet stated.
The DA’s office noted in its decision not to prosecute Jenner that the “crime requires violation of misdemeanor or infraction,” as well as “ordinary negligence.” The only possible violation found, however, was of the basic speed law, prosecutors stated.
The February crash, which occurred near Corral Canyon Road, also left five children and two adults hospitalized. Jenner was not injured.
The Sheriff’s Department opened vehicular manslaughter investigation into the cause of the crash days after the incident, CNN reported at the time.
Less than three months after the fatal collision, a civil lawsuit calling for unspecified damaged was filed against Jenner by the victim’s adult stepchildren.
