Daly City woman pleads no contest to felony charges connected to fatal collision that killed her car’s passenger
SAN MATEO COUNTY — A Daly City woman pleaded no contest to multiple felonies on Friday, more than 2 years after she ran a stop sign while drunk driving, resulting in a crash that killed her cousin, according to prosecutors.
Tuuika Helina Otoota Salt, 26, was driving at a high rate of speed around 4:18 p.m. on Sept. 26, 2021 when she ran a stop sign at the intersection of North Humboldt Street and East Santa Inez Avenue in San Mateo, prosecutors said. She T-boned another vehicle in the process, injuring its two passengers.
Salt’s passenger — her 41-year-old cousin, Tapaita Stoval — was rushed to a hospital but later died from her injuries. When police officers arrived, they felt that Salt smelled like alcohol and administered field sobriety tests, which she performed poorly, prosecutors said. She acknowledged that she’d had beer and tequila prior to the crash.
Her blood alcohol content was measured at .21 about 40 minutes after the crash, prosecutors said.
On Friday, Salt pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter while under the influence of alcohol and drunk driving causing injury. The pleas came on the condition of 6 years in prison, prosecutors said, but the judge said he would “strongly consider” probation and a residential treatment program in place of the 6-year sentence.
Salt’s sentencing hearing was scheduled for Feb. 20. Until then, she remains in custody on $500,000 bail.