A Santa Rosa Junior College football coach was charged in Sonoma County Superior Court Tuesday afternoon with the murder of a Sonoma State University student in an alleged DUI vehicle collision.
A Santa Rosa Junior College football coach was charged in Sonoma County Superior Court Tuesday afternoon with the murder of a Sonoma State University student in an alleged DUI vehicle collision Sunday night.
Logologoa Taumaloto Tevaseu, 35, of Santa Rosa, was driving a 2006 Dodge Ram south on Lakeville Highway east of Petaluma around 9:10 p.m. when he crossed double yellow lines and collided head-on with a 2015 Toyota Corolla.
Three other vehicles then collided with the Toyota or each other, causing minor to moderate injuries to the occupants.
The driver of the Toyota was pronounced dead at the scene. She has been identified as Paulette Geronimo Quiba, 21, of Oakley, according to the California Highway Patrol. Quiba was a business studies student at SSU.
Immediately after the collision, Tevaseu, a defensive line coach with the SRJC Bear Cubs football team, refused to take a blood draw, CHP officials said.
He is being held in the Sonoma County Jail and did not enter a plea this afternoon. Tevaseu will be back in court Wednesday morning.
The Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office charged Tevaseu with murder with malice and enhancements alleging he was previously convicted of DUI within the last 10 years and he caused great bodily injury to Quiba. He also is charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and two counts of felony DUI.
Tevaseu’s previous DUI occurred on Oct. 20, 2011. He was convicted on Feb. 29, 2012 and was served 10 days in jail, according to court records.
The DUI allegations in the complaint filed today also allege he refused to take a chemical test after Sunday’s collision, and his blood-alcohol level was 0.15 percent and more.
The Sonoma State University Facebook page states Quiba began her studies in the fall of 2015. She was junior and was taking pre-business courses, a proud member of the Phi Sigma Sigma sorority, the Accounting Forum and the Filipino American Association.
Quiba also was a staff member of Join Us in Making Progress where she was the Days of Service coordinator and part of the Sustainability Coalition last year.
The SSU statement read:
“She will be missed by her friends and classmates as well as by the faculty and staff who were lucky enough to know her.”
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