OAKLAND — A Bay Area man has been sentenced to seven years in state prison for killing a longtime attorney in an Emeryville crash, then running and hiding in the bathroom of a nearby restaurant, court records show.
Nathan Stenberg, 36, pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in the death of 57-year-old Michelle Farmer Eldridge, a Piedmont resident who died nine months after she was struck by Stenberg’s pickup truck near the IKEA store on the 4400 block of Shellmoun Street. A man was also truck by the truck and injured, police said at the time.
The crash occurred in January 2023.
Stenberg, a San Francisco resident, allegedly then crashed into a pole, exited the truck, and ran. Witnesses directed police to a restaurant located a quarter-mile away where he was found hiding in a bathroom, in possession of a pistol, authorities said. A 12 gauge shotgun was also found in the vicinity.
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Empty liquor bottles were later found in the truck, according to court records. Stenberg also tested positive for alcohol, cannabis, and cocaine, according to police. Multiple eyewitnesses identified him as the driver.
Eldridge went into a coma. She died Oct. 31 in South Carolina, authorities said; her family had moved her there so they could care for her after the crash.
Stenberg was sentenced on Sept. 10 as part of a plea deal with Alameda County prosecutors. He received credit for nearly 1,200 days worth of time towards his sentence