Petaluma woman killed in sidewalk crash identified

A woman standing on a Petaluma sidewalk after escaping injury in a minor car crash, only to be fatally injured minutes later in a second chain-reaction collision, was identified Friday as Susan Giammattei, 58, of Petaluma.

The impact threw Giammattei about 10 feet from where she was standing, causing her head to hit the sidewalk, Petaluma police officials said. She died at Petaluma Valley Hospital.

The incident occurred shortly before 4 p.m. Thursday after Giammattei and her husband’s red Mazda MX-5 was sideswiped by the driver of a green Ford Explorer trying to change lanes on southbound Sonoma Mountain Parkway, near Rainier Circle, police officials said.

Both vehicles pulled over and the occupants were on the sidewalk surveying the damage. A witness to the crash pulled up and parked his silver Nissan Maxima behind the Mazda and got out to assist, according to police.

But then a southbound silver Toyota Camry plowed into the parked Nissan, causing a chain-reaction crash that pushed the Nissan into the Mazda, police officials said. One or both vehicles hit two of the bystanders, Giammattei and the witness, a 39-year-old man who wasn’t identified. He was treated for minor injuries.

The Toyota driver, Thomas Christie, 86, of Petaluma, told police he didn’t see the parked cars. Christie told police he was about to change lanes and was looking at the driver’s side mirror when he crashed into the parked Nissan, officials said.

On Friday, Sgt. Ron Klein said investigators were working to reconstruct the dynamics of the crash, including Christie’s speed and what vehicles struck the pedestrians.

Klein said officers have not yet found any evidence that Christie’s driving was criminally negligent.

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 707-521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.