"Car Surfing" Driver Pleads No-Contest in Sunnyvale

Athena Ford, 20 the driver charged with felony vehicular manslaughter in the death of Paul Benabides pleaded no-contest to the charges on July 24th. The women was "playing" a game of car-surfing with Paul, her boyfriend, when he fell from the roof of the car at speeds of up to 40 mph. The street, Lois Ave. in Sunnyvale is a residential street with a speed limit of 25 mph. One of the factors given for the accident besides speed was alcohol. Ford has been scheduled for sentencig on September 14 of this year where she could face up to one year in jail.

In a previous post, I mentioned how suprised I was that on this quiet residential street, a couple of days after the accident there was no evidence that a young man had tragically lost his life. There were no candles, pictures, ribbons, street markings; not even the telltale signs of road flares that would indicate a recent accident.

Paul Benabides -- RIP