Pedestrian fatally struck by truck was preschool teacher

A former preschool teacher was fatally struck by a truck Tuesday night while crossing a west Santa Rosa street, at the same intersection where a homeless man was killed last month after he was run over twice.

Jennell Marie Davies, 39, of Santa Rosa, was walking east from the Oliver's Market shopping center at about 9:50 p.m. when a Chevy pickup hit her at the Stony Point and Occidental roads crosswalk, police said. Several witnesses called 911 to report the crash.

Police said the pickup was going north on Stony Point and had a green light.

It was the eighth crash involving a pedestrian at or near the intersection since May 2014, according to the Santa Rosa Police Department. Three crashes resulted in fatal injuries, and two involved hit-and-run drivers.

Earnest McGlee Slone, 81, of Santa Rosa, was struck and killed by a drunken driver on May 13, 2014, while standing outside his car on Occidental Road, just west of Stony Point Road. Enrique Sanabria-Ruiz, 47, of Santa Rosa, was sentenced to a year in jail and five years' probation in the drunken-driving crash.

Police, meanwhile, continue to search for the drivers who ran over 37-year-old Mathew Thomas Eck on Sept. 15.

Police initially believed Eck was hit once. However, a witness later came forward after officers released surveillance video and photos of a white car suspected in the crash, saying a second car was involved. The witness told investigators a brown or maroon-colored sedan struck the man west of the intersection, and that the driver got out but drove away. Eck then was hit by the white car, which also fled, police said.

Eck's body was dragged to the entrance of a nearby Round Table Pizza.

Davies' body was found in the northbound lane of Stony Point Road, just above the intersection. The first officer to arrive attempted to revive her, but Davies later was pronounced dead by fire and medical crews.

The driver of the truck, identified as Jose Manuel Canseco-Moreno, 26, of Santa Rosa, remained at the crash site and cooperated with officers, police said. The crash closed the intersection for several hours while officers investigated.

Police aren't seeking charges against Canseco-Moreno based on the initial investigation into the collision, said Sgt. Summer Gloeckner, who oversees the department's traffic bureau. Alcohol and drugs aren't suspected in the crash.

Gloeckner said Davies' last known address was near the collision site. Investigators didn't know where she was last living.

Davies was a new hire at St. Luke Lutheran Church and preschool in Santa Rosa. A couple months before her death, she started as a part-time preschool teacher, said Paulina Crowell, a church receptionist.

Employees were notified of Davies' death Wednesday morning by one of her friends. The preschool is closed Thursday to give staff time to mourn her death, Crowell said.

"It was such a shock," Crowell said. "We were all kind of reeling."

Davies previously was a preschool teacher, working with two-year-olds at Rohnert Park's Cross and Crown Lutheran School from September 2015 to July 2017, said Mandy McCarthy, the private school's director.

“To work with two year olds you have to be pretty patient and kind,” McCarthy said. “She was a loving person who really enjoyed working with children.”

Raised in Walnut Creek, Davies had lived in Santa Rosa for about 12 years while teaching at Cross and Crown Lutheran School, according to a teacher biography posted on its website.

Davies attended Santa Rosa Junior College from 2003 to 2016, taking child development courses, college spokeswoman Erin Bricker said.

You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203 or nashelly.chavez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @nashellytweets.