The driver at the center of Kern's first "texting-manslaughter" case told police several different stories about what she was doing with her cell phone when she allegedly plowed into a motorcycle stopped at a northwest Bakersfield intersection, according to reports released Monday.
Anna Marie Reynosa, 20, is charged with a felony count of vehicular manslaughter. She made her first court appearance Monday, surrounded by a phalanx of family and friends who tried to block media from getting a picture of her.
After she pleaded not guilty to the charge, the judge sternly warned her of the consequences of dangerous driving while she's out on bail. If convicted, she could face six years in prison.
It's believed to be the first case of its kind in Kern County.
The victim was Charla Wilkins, also 20. She was on her motorcycle, headed north on Jewetta Avenue, stopped at the stop sign at Reyna Road when she was hit from behind by the pickup traveling nearly 70 mph. She was thrown 152 feet and killed.
In reports released Monday, police say:
-- The accident happened at 8:35 or 8:36 p.m. April 14.
-- Reynosa made a one-minute call to someone named Tony at 8:32 p.m., three or four minutes before the accident.
-- She got a text from her boyfriend, Blake Meyers, at that same minute, apparently while on the call with Tony.
-- After that phone call and that text, police say, a partial text was entered on her phone. It was addressed to someone named "Nick," and said, "Hey can …" The Samsung phone does not put time stamps on unsent messages, so there's no way to know exactly when those two words were written. But, the reports say, it came after the one-minute call ended at 8:33 p.m.
-- Reynosa said she doesn't know how the text got on her phone. She said she doesn't know anyone named "Nick" and doesn't know how his name and number got in her phone.
-- Reynosa said she was not texting at the time of the accident. She said she noticed the blinking light on the phone, and looked down to see if she had missed a message. But, the officer pointed out, records show there was no missed call or missed text, and therefore no reason the light would be blinking.
-- The Toyota was traveling between 63 and 68 mph when it hit the motorcycle. The speed limit is 45 mph.
-- Reynosa already had three speeding tickets in the first three and a half months of 2012. One BPD officer who works in her neighborhood gave her two of them. He said he has seen her speeding several other times when he was unable to stop and cite her. That officer said Reynosa, "drives like a maniac."
-- Reynosa said the truck had bad brakes, but an inspection found front and back brakes to be worn but "serviceable." And, officers said, there was no indication the brakes were used at all. "The braking system was a non-factor," the report said.
-- Reynosa had a blood alcohol level of 0.009 percent. That would be well below the limit for a driver over the age of 21, but it is illegal for anyone under 21 to have any alcohol in her system. Reynosa told officers she drank half a Corona beer at her mother's house, without her mother knowing about it.
"After examining the evidence at the scene of this collision, it is readily apparent that V-2 (the motorcycle) was stopped at a stop-sign facing northbound in the No. 2 northbound lane of Jewetta Avenue at Reina Road when she was struck from behind by V-1 (the Toyota) at speed, which is without any pre-collision braking on the part of P-1 (Reynosa), Officer Christopher Bagby wrote.
"There is no evidence that P-1 (Reynosa) took any action to avoid the collision.
"It is extremely likely," Bagby wrote, "especially in light of her obvious deceit when asked about it, that she was engaged in texting "Nick" at the time of this collision."
She is free on $50,000 bail.
She has declined a Channel 17 request for an interview.
