Sacramento, CA – Fatal Accident that Killed Woman and her Fetus Rocks Jewish Community

Sacramento, CA – Annette Brodovsky — 33 years old and five months pregnant — was fatally struck Monday night as she headed to a neighbor's home for the first Passover Seder.

The news shook members of her Orthodox Jewish community Tuesday morning. Without the help of telephones, an electronic luxury prohibited during religious holidays, the Kenesset Israel Torah Center congregation instead learned of the tragedy as they gathered to observe the second day of Passover.
There, they found a grieving husband and the couple's 8- and 5-year-old daughters. Many ignored the services and mourned.

Brandon Bowman, 25, of Aurora, Colo., was arrested minutes after the crash. He remained in the Sacramento County Main Jail on Tuesday, booked on gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, felony drunken driving and driving with a suspended license. His bail was set at $500,000.

Moments before crash, Brodovsky stood on the lawn of an Arden Arcade home, waiting before going inside for the traditional Seder.
Bowman was driving a friend's 1992 Acura Legend westbound on Wemberley Drive, east of Morse Avenue, traveling at more than twice the 25 mph limit, said CHP spokeswoman Officer Lizz Dutton. Bowman failed to follow the road as it curved left and drove onto a lawn, where Brodovsky was waiting when Bowman struck her.
He then sped forward, hitting Brodovsky and flinging her onto his windshield as he crashed into a blue Saturn, Dutton said. The Saturn spun and hit a parked Honda CRV, which hit a Honda Civic.
Brodovsky's body came to rest under the rear bumper of a parked Toyota, where she would, in moments, be pronounced dead, Dutton said. Brodovsky's fetus, a boy, also was pronounced DOA.

Bowman got out of the car and ran, Dutton said. Officers caught up to him at a nearby convenience store, and his blood-alcohol level was more than twice the state's legal limit of 0.08 percent, she said. [Sacramento Bee]