Crime & Safety
Woman Pleads No Contest in Fatal 2014 Christmas Concert Crash
Margo Julie Bronstein was sentenced to more than three years in prison for the crash that killed four, including a 6-year-old boy.
Redondo Beach, CA — A 57-year-old woman was sentenced to more than three years behind bars after pleading no contest to driving into a group of pedestrians leaving a Christmas concert in Redondo Beach two years ago, killing four.
Margo Julie Bronstein was sentenced to three years and four months behind bars but was given time-served credit of 1,105 days, making it unclear how much longer she would be in custody. She was initially charged with driving under the influence of prescription drugs, but a toxicology report showed the medication was not a factor.
According to police, Bronstein ran a red light around 8 p.m. Dec. 17, 2014 and plowed into a group of pedestrians who had just attended a Christmas concert at St. James Catholic School and Parish near Pacific Coast Highway and Vincent Street in Redondo Beach.
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The group was walking across PCH when they were struck by the white Saturn. The driver of the northbound car continued through the intersection, swerved into the southbound lanes and slammed into another vehicle -- all while dragging 6-year-old Samuel Gaza, a kindergartener at the church school. He wound up pinned under a front tire of Bronstein’s car.
Also killed were Samuel’s mother, 36-year-old Martha Gaza, and Mary Wilson, 81, and Saeko Matsumura, 87, all of Torrance.
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Police said a total of 11 pedestrians were struck, although the criminal complaint names a total of nine victims.
In December, the families of the victim sued Bronstein, along with the state of California, the city of Redondo Beach and Los Angeles County for wrongful death.
The suit alleges that in addition to the negligence of Bronstein, the intersection where the victims were struck had poor lighting, the crosswalk was defectively designed and there were no warning devices to keep the intersection from becoming a “concealed trap for pedestrians.”
That suit is still on going.
— City News Service contributed to this report. Photo courtesy of the Redondo Beach Police Department
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