Man arrested 9 months after death of Bear Valley Springs woman | Crime

An elderly woman was killed in her front yard by a runaway truck last year in Bear Valley Springs, and now the driver of the vehicle has been arrested, nine months after the incident.

Margaret Mikkelsen, 64, was tending to her lawn in August of 2009 when Leonard Campos says he entered into a diabetic shock.

Bear Valley Police say for the past nine months they have been investigating gross negligence as a possible factor in the accident and on Tuesday, Campos was arrested for vehicular manslaughter and felony reckless driving.

“I was flabbergasted,” Campos said.  “I was shocked.  I thought it was understood that this was nothing but a bad accident.”

Police say the truck Campos was driving lost control, struck a utility pole, rolled over multiple times, caught fire and crushed Mikkelsen.

Broken beer bottles were found at the scene by police but Campos holds that he never drank at all the day of the crash.

“I just happened to have them in the back of my truck, in an ice chest, unopened, brand new, just bought at the store,” Campos said.  “Yeah, they were there but I hadn’t drank any.”

Campos was not arrested for driving under the influence but rather felony reckless driving.

A lawyer we spoke with said a medical condition like diabetes or epilepsy could potentially result in a person being liable in a civil case but said it was not clear whether the facts of this case would show gross negligence in a criminal case.

Campos maintains he was keeping his diabetes in check by taking regular medication an checking his blood-sugar levels regularly.

“I didn’t feel the symptoms,”  Campos said.  “I was in the store one minute, driving the next minute and then waking up to a helicopter.  I’ll have to explain that with my lawyer in court.”