Lindsay Turmelle Carlsbad driver gets only 90 days jail for Christine Embree’s e-cycling death as she gives remorseful account as questions are raised.
Did she get away with murder? A California clothing designer who ran a red stop light (a consistent driving infringement) and fatally struck a Carlsbad mother riding an e-bike with her daughter was sentenced on Thursday to 90 days in county jail and 90 days of home detention.
Lindsay Turmelle, 43, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter count for the Aug. 7, 2022, crash that killed 35-year-old Christine Embree. Both women lived in Carlsbad, literally just miles from each other.
Embree was riding with her 16-month-old daughter when Turmelle’s Toyota 4-Runner struck her near the intersection of Basswood Avenue and Valley Street. Embree died one day later at a hospital. Her daughter was not injured.
What distracted Carlsbad driver?
According to defense attorney Joni Eisenstein, Turmelle was driving home from work and glanced down for a moment while driving, leading to the fatal accident. Of note, Turmelle herself called authorities and stayed at the scene of the crash.
‘It’s a mistake Ms. Turmelle made that she can never take back and she has been waiting since the day of the incident to apologize,’ said Eisenstein, who described her client as ‘consumed with remorse and regret.’
In a statement delivered in court, Turmelle said she has already scheduled public speaking events at schools and other places where she intends to speak about her experience and warn others of the dangers of distracted driving.
She told Embree’s family, ‘I cannot imagine what this has been like for you. I pray for your comfort. I pray for you to heal. I pray for your understanding and I’ve prayed for your forgiveness. I cannot compare what I am going through to what your family endures daily.’
To date it remained unclear what led to the driver being distracted, whether responding to a text message, a sudden noise, flash of light or thoughts on her mind.
Deputy District Attorney Kaleb Fulbright sought the maximum possible sentence for misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter, which is one year in county jail.
The prosecutor alleged that after the crash, Turmelle told police that she had fully stopped at the stop sign, something he characterized as a ‘blatant lie’ that was later disproven by traffic data obtained from her vehicle.
He also said Turmelle had a history of traffic accidents and violations, which included running a red light about three months before the fatal crash.
Fulbright said that should have made her more cognizant of the dangers of driving while distracted.
‘The defendant thought that whatever it was she was doing at the time, whatever it was that was distracting her, was more important than simple safety of the road,’ Fulbright said.
Moral dilemma and questions
Superior Court Judge Alejandro Morales agreed that Turmelle’s driving history should have put her on notice.
However, he noted that she has been ‘extremely remorseful,’ along with attempting to make amends by speaking about her experience and said he believed ‘society is better served’ by having her dissuade others with her story, rather than sending her to jail for one year.
The judge ordered Turmelle to report to court in February, when she will be taken into custody to begin serving her jail sentence. Morales said he delayed the start of her custody because Turmelle has some of those speaking engagements planned this month.
Along with custody, she will be required to speak at 10 traffic school events and complete 50 hours of volunteer work.
The crash was one of two fatal bicyclist collisions during the month of August 2022 in Carlsbad. Those crashes, coupled with a spike in e-bike and bicycle collisions citywide led Carlsbad officials to declare a local state of emergency last year, NBC SanDiego reports.
The light sentence led to commentators on social media noting Turmelle’s emotional apology, while others wondered if it was a case of a ‘rich woman’ getting off with a light sentence, while others demanded to know what exactly distracted the driver, while others were dumbfounded by the leniency of the sentence given the driver’s prior history of running red lights, while others questioned if bike lanes and driver lanes could be better designed and integrated to minimize road accidents.
