SAN PABLO — A Pinole man was charged with felony hit and run but avoided more serious manslaughter charges in an Oct. 5 crash that killed an 88-year-old woman, court records show.
Kelly Lynch, 64, allegedly confessed to the 5:15 a.m. fatal hit and run after investigators identified his truck from surveillance footage of it leaving the San Pablo Lytton Casino shortly before the crash, court records show. The victim, Celia Demolina, was walking her dog when she was struck by a pickup truck, which made a u-turn and stopped briefly near her before driving off.
The police investigation — which included reviewing traffic camera footage of the crash — also revealed that Demolina was crossing San Pablo Avenue against a “do not walk” sign and that the pickup truck had a green light. Lynch told investigators that he was distracted by a police car in the distance and was staring at his rearview, worried he’d be pulled over for not having license plates, when he struck Demolina, police wrote in court records.
The crash occurred near San Pablo Avenue and Road 20, about a mile from the casino. The video shows the truck returning to Demolina after the crash for about one minute, then driving off. Lynch never got out, called 9-1-1, or attempted to help Demolina, investigators said.
After the crash, casino security helped police investigators by identifying Lynch — who is banned from the casino — based on surveillance footage from that morning, police said.
The hit and run charge alone carries a maximum of four years in state prison. The charging records allege that Lynch has more than a half-dozen felony convictions, though only two — 2019 convictions on drug possession charges — occurred within the past decade.
Lynch denied being intoxicated when the accident occurred and said he’d used methamphetamine two days earlier, investigators wrote in court records.
A spokesman for the Contra Costa District Attorney said San Pablo police brought the case to prosecutors as a felony hit and run, and did not ask for a vehicular manslaughter charge.
