Coalinga man charged after Truckee crash injured kids at Safeway fundraiser
A Coalinga man faces multiple attempted murder charges after Northern California prosecutors said he deliberately drove his pickup truck into a group of youth baseball players and their families during a fundraiser outside a Truckee grocery store.
Jonathan Noel Maurer, 49, of Coalinga, was charged with eight counts of attempted murder, along with multiple counts of assault with a deadly weapon and allegations of causing great bodily injury, Nevada County prosecutors announced. Maurer was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Nevada County Superior Court.
The charges stemmed from a Saturday afternoon crash outside a Safeway in Truckee, where members of the Tahoe Titans, a 12-and-under youth baseball team, were holding a fundraiser with their families.
Nevada County District Attorney Jesse Wilson said the group had been selling jerky to raise money for a planned trip to the Cooperstown All-Star Village in New York.
“The allegations that this act was intentional and directed at kids is hard to comprehend,” Wilson said in a statement posted to social media. “Our office will ... do everything we can, to the fullest extent of the law, to hold this individual accountable, send a clear message that this behavior has no place in society, and protect the public from further harm.”
Authorities said Maurer had a prior criminal history and was on post-release community supervision at the time of the crash. He remained in custody at the Wayne Brown Correctional Facility in Nevada City, according to jail records.
The crash happened about 2:45 p.m. Saturday. Victims recounted the scene Sunday in interviews with TV stations including CBS Sacramento.
“I remember hearing the truck a half second before I got hit,” Titans catcher Rowan Gran told CBS Sacramento. “When I got hit, I just felt a little tingle and then the pain came on. I got flung away.”
Truckee police said officers rushed to the scene after receiving reports of multiple people injured. Maurer was arrested at the scene on suspicion of a vehicle assault, felony vandalism and violating the terms of his post-release supervision.
By Tuesday, a GoFundMe appeal had raised nearly $73,000 of a stated $100,000 goal for the baseball club.
Truckee is located near Lake Tahoe, about 140 miles northeast of Sacramento.
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