An Automotive journalist has been charged with vehicular manslaughter following the death of Lori Jamieson. Frank Filipponio, 37, was test driving a GT 500 Shelby Mustang when he lost control of the vehicle on California’s Pacific Coast Highway and left the road, running over Jamieson.
The incident took place in May and charges were laid Monday. Filipponio was also charged with speeding — purportedly exceeding 75 mph.
Not a felony
According to prosecutors, Filipponio acted “unlawfully” but “without malice [or] gross negligence,” resulting in misdemeanor charges rather than a felony.
Felony charges in cases of vehicular manslaughter are less common, but California prosecutors famously charged 86-year-old George Russell Weller with 10 counts of felony vehicular manslaughter when he apparently confused the accelerator with the brake pedal and crashed into a crowded market in 2003.
Wrong place, wrong time
Jamieson, 48, was walking on a trail through Crystal Cove State Park with her longtime friend Teri Iannotti. The two routinely took that path, which comes relatively close to the highway at certain points.
Filipponio lost control of the 500 horsepower car while shifting gears near the park, police said. The car jumped the curb and travelled some distance from the road. Jamieson was pronounced dead at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.
Iannotti spoke with the Orange County Register, recalling the May 2nd accident: “We were laughing shoulder-to-shoulder and she was telling me how happy she was to be getting married,” said Iannotti, a Laguna Beach resident who was with Jamieson when she was killed. “Then we heard a terrible screech and saw the car traveling toward us at a terrible rate of speed. And in an instant, my friend was gone.”
