In California, a deadly loophole is letting drivers who kill with their cars walk away without a single mark on their records—and grieving families are demanding change.
Allison Lyman’s son Connor Lopez died on April 23, 2025, when a driver turned directly into his motorcycle. Witnesses saw the collision clearly. The driver, Harkit Kaur, showed no signs of intoxication.
But what Lyman learned next shattered her. The death was classified as a misdemeanor—less serious than a shoplifting charge. Worse, a law signed by Governor Newsom in 2020 could erase the whole incident from Kaur’s record as if it never happened.
“I won’t ever forget the day I sat in front of the DA. He said something about a ‘diversion program,’” Lyman recalls. That program, created by AB 3234, lets judges dismiss charges completely if defendants complete court-ordered steps—and the arrest is deemed to have never occurred.
“The driver that killed Connor has never lost her license. I’ve seen her driving,” Lyman says, her voice thick with disbelief. The charge was simply wiped away.
Another Newsom-approved law, AB 2167, goes even further. It explicitly tells judges to consider alternatives to jail—including diversion—before any sentence. That 2023 mandate, known as code 17.2, was cited in a different vehicular manslaughter case Lyman witnessed.
“I zoomed in for a woman whose husband was killed. Same judge as Connor. The judge cited this code I’d never heard of,” she explains. The message is clear: killing with a car is often treated as a minor offense.
Now Lyman is fighting back. She’s working with state lawmakers on SB 953, a bill that would force all vehicular manslaughter cases to be reported to the DMV. Two points would land on the driver’s record—regardless of diversion.
“A speeding ticket can now have a greater reflection on a driver’s record than killing somebody with a car,” says Senator Roger Niello, the bill’s sponsor. “The DMV cannot do its job of determining who poses a risk.”
SB 953 has already passed out of committee unanimously. For families like Lyman’s, it’s a first step toward making sure no driver ever vanishes from accountability after taking a life.
