SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — A 71-year-old allegedly drugged driver accused of plowing a station wagon into a San Diego sidewalk encampment of people experiencing homelessness, killing three people and injuring several others, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and DUI charges.
Craig Martin Voss' Volvo struck the victims after veering onto the sidewalk just after 9 a.m. March 15 beneath the overpass on B Street near San Diego City College, according to investigators. The San Diego resident remained at the scene, where he was arrested.
Killed in the crash were Rodney Diffendal, 40; Randy Ferris, 65; and Walter Jones, 61. Five others were hospitalized with injuries of varying severity, while another person declined medical treatment.
Lacey Diffendal says she was stunned to hear that her cousin was killed in the crash. “He would give anybody, anything,” she told News 8. She said she last spoke to Rodney in December and, at that time, he wasn’t homeless.
“Last time I talked to him, he was doing great, and that’s why I’m just so shocked. I’m so shocked that he was even homeless," Lacey said.
Voss faces 20 years and eight months in state prison if convicted of three counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and one count of driving under the influence of drugs causing injury. The criminal complaint does not specify what drug was allegedly involved.
Voss remains in custody on $1 million bail pending a bail review hearing scheduled for next Tuesday.
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