Nextdoor CEO Nirav Tolia will be charged with felony hit-and-run for leaving the scene of a crash last August near the San Francisco International Airport, the San Mateo County district attorney said.
Steve Wagstaffe said Wednesday his office is in the process of filing that charge against Tolia, who runs the neighborhood-based social network. Tolia will get served the paperwork in the mail and he will not be taken into custody, Wagstaffe said.
People are charged with hit-and-run accidents when they are "aware that they caused them and don't stop," Wagstaffe said.
Tolia is also facing a lawsuit, which accuses him causing the accident on Highway 101 in Brisbane on his way home from the San Francisco Airport, where a driver spun out of control and damaged her car and broke her fingers. Tolia never stopped, according to the lawsuit and a California Highway Patrol report, where an officer recommended the felony charge.
Reached Tuesday night, Tolia told NBC Bay Area: "I just learned about this lawsuit tonight and will cooperate fully with authorities. This is a personal matter that happened last August and is not related to Nextdoor."
Tolia was not immediately available by phone on Wednesday to comment on the DA's announcement of the charge. Tolia's first court appearance is unknown at this point.
San Francisco-based Nextdoor was founded in 2010, and is now used in more than 34,000 neighborhoods, according to the company's website. Nextdoor describes itself as "passionate about building stronger and safer neighborhoods."
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in San Francisco County, the driver, Patrice Renee Motley of San Francisco, claims Tolia made an unsafe lane change in his black BMW X5 SUV and nearly hit her car, forcing her Honda del Sol to spin out of control on the highway and strike a concrete median with oncoming traffic zooming her way.
Her car suffered "moderate" damage and she was taken to San Francisco General complaining of a hurt wrist, according to a CHP report taken on Aug. 4. Her attorney, Wesley Pratt, told NBC Bay Area that she broke her fingers, requiring surgery and a plate to be put in her hand.
Tolia told CHP officers he did not stop and instead kept driving because he was "shaken" and didn't call 911 because he was certain someone else had, according to the lawsuit and the CHP report. He was driving with his wife and child at the time.
Other drivers followed and took down Tolia's license plate. Police tracked him down and interviewed him and his wife at their home in Pacific Heights.
Photo Credit: NBC Bay Area