CHP: Suspected under the influence driver kills Corning teacher

An Olive View Elementary School teacher was hit by a car and killed while jogging near Chico Thursday morning.

Carrie Jean Holiman, 56, a fifth-grade teacher at the Corning school, died when she was struck by a 2001 BMW on Oro Chico Highway at 9 a.m., the California Highway Patrol reported.

The CHP said Holiman was jogging westbound on the shoulder, west of Estate Drive, when the vehicle driven by Jimmy Candido Flores, 25, of Chico, allowed his car to drift off the roadway and hit Holiman.

“Mr. Flores told me one of his two pit bull dogs riding in the car with him, jumped on his arm and caused the car to swerve,” said CHP Officer Tony Nunes.

“We arrested him for driving under the influence of drugs,” Nunes said.

Flores was arrested and booked into the Butte County Jail on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence causing great bodily injury, the CHP reported.

Nunes said Holiman had probably been out jogging for only 10 minutes after leaving her home located just around the corner from where the incident occurred.

Holiman had worked for Corning Union Elementary School District for 29 years, said Ann Messmer, district coordinator of human resources.

Dave Sweringen, Olive View principal, said the news of Holiman’s death came as a terrible shock.

“This is a great loss. She will be missed dearly by her colleagues and students,” he said. “This is being very hard to deal with. But I can guarantee you she will continue to be with us in spirit as we go through this next school year.”

Sweringen said Holiman was a beloved teacher and an active, busy, energetic woman.

The incident is under investigation by the CHP.