No charges for Caitlyn Jenner over car crash that killed elderly woman
Former Olympian and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner will not be charged in connection with a crash in Malibu earlier this year that killed a 69-year-old woman, Los Angeles prosecutors said.
Based on the facts in the case, prosecutors lacked evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Jenner’s conduct was unreasonable, according to documents provided by Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday.
Jenner, 65, was driving a Cadillac Escalade along Pacific Coast Highway and towing a trailer carrying a dune buggy when she slammed into two other cars, according to authorities.
During the crash, a white Lexus being driven by 69-year-old Kim Howe was shoved by Jenner’s sport-utility vehicle across a centre divider and into oncoming traffic, where it was struck head-on by a Hummer.
Howe was killed in the collision and Jessica Steindorff, who was driving a black Toyota Prius also rear-ended by Jenner, was injured. Jenner escaped serious injury in the crash and declined medical treatment, authorities said at the time.
According to a summary of the investigation released by the district attorney’s office, Jenner was driving slightly below the speed limit and “minimally slower than the victim” and braked 1.9 to 1.5 seconds before the collision.
The summary said that the only possible violation against Jenner would be a “violation of the basic speed law”, meaning too fast for the conditions.
But, prosecutors said in the document, “crime also requires ordinary negligence. Based on facts, cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that suspect’s conduct was unreasonable.”
Both Steindorff and Howe’s stepchildren family have sued Jenner, who was known as Bruce Jenner at the time of the crash and rose to fame with a record-breaking Olympic gold medal victory in the decathlon in the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal.
Civil cases typically require a lesser burden of proof than criminal courts. A spokeswoman for Howe’s attorney could not immediately be reached following the district attorney’s decision on Wednesday.
