Driver Facing Six Years for Fatal Carlsbad Crash

A woman who hit a cyclist while driving drunk, then fled the scene of the fatal crash in Carlsbad, pleaded guilty Thursday to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and hit-and-run causing death.

Julianne Elyse Thomson, 23, will be sentenced to six years in state prison on March 12 for causing the death of 64-year-old Arthur John Jacobs of Vista.

Jacobs was struck by a Ford F-150 truck near the intersection of El Camino Real and Cassia Street around 9:45 p.m. on July 27 while riding his bicycle to work at a local hotel.

A witness told police the driver crashed into a curb and some bushes, then drove at high speed into an apartment complex parking lot, Carlsbad police Lt. Paul Mendes said. Arriving emergency personnel pronounced Jacobs dead at the scene.

Thomson was found about 15 minutes later hiding in some bushes on the opposite side of the apartment complex, where she had parked her car.

The defendant’s blood-alcohol level was measured at .25 percent, more than three times the legal limit for driving, said prosecutor Aimee McLeod.

-City News Service