Driver held to answer to lesser crime in crash that killed Fresno mom on bicycle
An alleged reckless driver faces a lesser charge in a 2022 head-on fatal crash after a Fresno County judge Wednesday said prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence for a felony prosecution.
The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office sought a felony conviction of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence against Johnson Chang, who was driving a 2017 Acura NSX on Oct. 2, 2022, when he collided head-on with cyclist and mother-of-five Adela Santana.
Fresno County Judge Jonathan Conklin said the evidence showed potential simple negligence by Chang because California Highway Patrol investigators testified the driver was 1 to 3 feet over the double-yellow line when he struck Santana.
Chang was ordered to return to court to face the lower misdemeanor charge of vehicular manslaughter. He also has been charged with infractions for improper turning and driving at an unsafe speed.
The evidence did not show the gross negligence that defines a felony, Conklin said. Investigators could not show sufficient credible evidence that Chang was driving at a rate of speed beyond the 55-mph speed limit on the day of the crash.
Chang cooperated with officers at the scene of the crash and was not impaired while driving, according to testimony. The CHP officers did not collect crash data from the car’s computer.
More than a year later, the DA’s office obtained a warrant to take the Acura to be investigated further. Conklin pointed to testimony from a CHP officer that the time lapse was likely the reason evidence of a felony was lacking in the case.
“We would not be here today if the car was examined the day after the crash,” he said on Wednesday.
The fatal head-on crash
Santana, 51, an anthropology professor, was riding on a Giant road bike in the foothills on Oct. 2, 2022, with three friends on Watts Valley Road when she was struck by the 2017 Acura NSX driven by Chang, 50, according to the CHP.
A friend riding with Santana that day and three CHP officers all testified the area of the collision on Watts Valley Road near Pittman Hill Road was a windy rural road that rose to small hills in several places. The car and bicycle collided in an area where the steepness of the hill made it difficult for those on either side to see, according to testimony.
Multiple CHP officers testified they recorded skid marks in the road showing the Acura had crossed the center line.
Chang was charged in 2023 with a misdemeanor until new felony charges were filed in February 2024 by the DA’s office.
Prosecutors at the time did not say what led to the new charges, but they were filed the same month that DA’s office called in another investigator, Fresno Police Det. Brian Hance.
He testified in court he pulled information from an “event data recorder,” which is software inside the car, that showed the car was moving at 76 mph during a collision. He said the fatal collision was the only one on record for that Acura.
Hance pulled the data in February 2024, 16 months after the crash. The car had been started 1,122 more times since the crash and the software in the car does not include information that can connect the data to a location or date of the crash.
Another witness who testified said he’d seen the Acura and four other sports cars driving at a high rate of speed roughly 15 minutes before the crash about five miles away from the crash.
Chang was ordered to return to court Dec. 17.
This story was originally published December 10, 2025 at 2:43 PM.
