More than a year after a crash on Alameda de las Pulgas killed a 30-year-old mother and left her two young sons critically injured, San Mateo County prosecutors charged the driver with felony vehicular manslaughter. John Roland Deloach, a 76-year-old San Mateo resident, was charged more than a year after the July 31, 2025, collision that killed Yina Marcela Ramos Bello of South San Francisco.
A Red Light, a Green Light, and a Fatal Collision
According to the San Mateo Daily Journal, Deloach ran a red light while exiting the eastbound State Route 92 off-ramp onto Alameda de las Pulgas, where his Ford SUV collided with Ramos Bello's northbound Prius. Patch reported that the Prius had a green light at the time of impact, and that police described the SUV as exiting eastbound Highway 92 when it struck the Prius. Ramos Bello, a 30-year-old mother of two, was pronounced dead at the scene, per the Daily Journal.
Her two sons, ages 5 and 7, were taken to the hospital with critical injuries, according to the Daily Journal, while Patch reported that both boys were listed in critical but stable condition. Deloach, who police said was alone in the SUV, was transported to the hospital with minor injuries, according to police cited by the Daily Journal. Patch reported Deloach's injuries similarly, though KTVU described the driver in its own coverage as 75 at the time of the crash, a detail that differs from the Daily Journal's and Patch's reporting that Deloach is 76.
Brakes, Sobriety, and Competing Accounts
Patch reported that investigators said shortly after the crash that Deloach was not impaired. Separately, KTVU reported that a driver whose name it withheld because he had not been arrested said his brakes had failed before the collision — his own account of what happened, not a finding attributed to investigators in available reporting. Patch noted that the case involved a lengthy investigation by San Mateo police and a review by the California Highway Patrol before charges were ultimately filed.
Case Status
Deloach was not arrested in connection with the case, per the Daily Journal's reporting.
The Daily Journal reported that Jonah Chew did not respond to a request for comment on the case.
Other San Mateo County Crash Cases
The gap between the crash and the filing of charges echoes other recent San Mateo County cases that drew scrutiny over how prosecutors weigh culpability. In a separate case, county prosecutors declined to file vehicular manslaughter charges against a 19-year-old driver whose compact SUV struck and killed 4-year-old Ayden Fang on a Burlingame sidewalk in August 2025, according to the San Mateo Daily Journal. Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Baum said at the time that the DA's Office did not believe it could convince all 12 members of a jury that criminal negligence occurred.
In a different incident, a 51-year-old Woodside man, James Morton Worthington, was charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter and other offenses after allegedly driving about 90 mph on Skyline Boulevard near Woodside before losing control and crashing into a tree, according to KRON4. That case, unlike Deloach's, involved allegations of drunk driving.
