Driver Gets Six Years for Motorcyclist’s Death

Driver Gets Six Years for Motorcyclist’s Death

A California woman has been sentenced to six years in prison for the 2015 killing of a motorcyclist in a road rage incident.

Motorcyclist Zacharias Buob, 39, was killed after getting into a May 28, 2015, altercation with motorist Darla Renee Jackson. The altercation led to a high speed chase spanning two San Diego freeways during which Jackson displayed "outrageously reckless" behavior, according to sentencing Judge Francis Devaney.

According to a report in the San Diego Union Tribune, the dispute began when Jackson passed Buob on the freeway. Both vehicles were in the fast lane at the time, which appeared to upset Buob. He reportedly gestured at Jackson, she swerved her car toward him, and he responded by kicking her car's door. Jackson then followed him as he sped away.

Reaching speeds in excess of 90 mph, the chase came to an abrupt end when Buob, a Navy chief petty officer, ran into traffic that had slowed in front of him. He was thrown from his bike and run over by Jackson, who had been swerving to avoid his motorcycle, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

Jackson pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter earlier this year, a charge that could have carried a maximum penalty of 11 years. At her sentencing hearing last week she was visibly shaken – sobbing and repeating the word "No."

Speaking at the sentencing, Deputy District Attorney Laura Evans said that regardless of who had started the altercation, Jackson must accept responsibility for Buob's death.

"Whatever the purpose, she chased," Evans said of Jackson. "She sped. She followed too closely. and she hunted him down."