The Placer County District Attorney’s Office today filed a charge of vehicular manslaughter against a 55-year-old driver in a traffic accident in which a bicyclist was struck and killed on Highway 174 near Colfax last month.

The misdemeanor charge against Patricia Louise Hernandez, a resident of Chicago Park in Nevada County, carries a maximum penalty of one year in the Placer County Jail and/or an unspecified fine if she is convicted.

Deputy District Attorney Clark Gehlbach, who filed the complaint in Placer County Superior Court, said Hernandez appeared to have been distracted just before bicyclist James Rogers, 53, of Grass Valley was struck on the side of the road at about 12:15 p.m. on Jan. 31.

An arraignment date for Hernandez has been scheduled for 8:30 a.m. March 23 in Dept. 31 of the Bill Santucci Justice Center in Roseville.