Driver ordered to stand trial for fatal Christmas concert crash

A Redondo Beach woman had taken prescription painkillers and muscle relaxers the day she drove her car into a crowd of people leaving a Christmas concert, killing four, including a 6-year-old boy, prosecutors said.

Margo Bronstein, 56, of Redondo Beach, was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on four felony counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and one felony count of being under the influence of a drug, causing injuries.

Authorities said Bronstein was driving the car that plowed into a crowd outside St. James Catholic Church in Redondo Beach. Prosecutors allege that Bronstein swerved around vehicles stopped at a red light before striking people leaving a concert at the church.

Mary Ann Wilson, 81, and Saeko Matsumura, 87, Martha Gaza, 36, and her 6-year-old son, Samuel, were killed in the crash. Eight others were injured.

At a hearing Tuesday, a pharmacist testified that Bronstein had been prescribed Soma, a muscle relaxer, and Norco, a painkiller, said Greg Risling, a Los Angeles County district attorney’s office spokesman.

If convicted of the charges, Bronstein could face 40 years in prison. She is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.

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