An Arcadia man accused of striking a road worker -- a son of actor and motorcycle racing champion Bruce Penhall -- after allegedly driving around cones and CHP vehicles to enter the closed stretch of the 10 Freeway in Baldwin Park is scheduled for arraignment Monday on charges that include gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.
Tatsuhiko Sakamoto, 37, of Arcadia also might enter a plea to the charges. He remains jailed on $200,000 bail.
Sakamoto is accused of driving a Toyota Rav4 through traffic cones on the westbound freeway at Francisquito Avenue at about 11:45 p.m. Wednesday, hitting 21-year-old Connor Penhall, of Corona. Penhall, who was operating a concrete saw for a Caltrans subcontractor, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Penhall's father portrayed Officer Bruce Nelson in the final season of the "CHiPs'' television series. He was also a champion motorcycle racer, a sport in which Connor also competed.
Sakamoto faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted, according to the District Attorney's Office.
The freeway was closed at about 11 p.m. Wednesday for scheduled construction work and the suspect drove his Toyota Rav4 into a coned-off area. The road is regularly closed for work from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m.
"Everything was closed off with signs and cones, and he still came through that,'' said CHP Officer Edmund Zorrilla.
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