TORRANCE, Calif. — The daughter of a veteran Los Angeles Police Department sergeant pleaded not guilty today to three charges stemming from a crash that killed a bicyclist in Gardena.
Vanessa Marie Yanez, 23, of Gardena, is charged with one felony count each of leaving the scene of an accident and perjury by declaration and one misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter.
Her bail was set at $75,000. She is due back in court Dec. 13, when a date will be set for a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence for her to stand trial.
Yanez allegedly collided with bicyclist Jesse Dotson Jr., 60, while driving eastbound on El Segundo Boulevard in Gardena, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Dotson was declared dead three days after the crash.
Yanez — the daughter of LAPD Sgt. Arturo Yanez — allegedly went to
Huntington Park police about 1:50 a.m. the day after the crash and filed a stolen car report, authorities said.
“She reported it stolen and said it was found parked down the street and had suffered some kind of traffic collision damage,” Gardena police Lt. Steve Prendergast said.
The next day when media reports about the accident started to appear, Prendergast said, the Huntington Park police officer who took the report felt the details of the report and description of the hit-and-run vehicle appeared to match and he called the Gardena police to tip them off.
The damage to the vehicle appeared to match a hit-and-run accident with the bicyclist Dotson, according to Prendergast.
If convicted, Yanez faces up to six years behind bars, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
