SAN FRANCISCO -- The driver accused of causing the van-taxi collision that killed one man and seriously injured actresses Mary Martin and Janet Gaynor was charged last October with trying to run down a 30-year-old woman, it was reported today.
Robert Cato, 36, charged with three felony drunken driving counts in the collision that injured the actresses Sunday, had a felony assault charged dropped last year when he agreed to seek psychiatric help, the San Francisco Chronicle reported today.
Cato has since been sued by Mellicent Wauters of Tiburon, the woman he allegedly tried to run down in an incident triggered by a traffic dispute.
The incident began Oct. 14, 1981 when Cato and Miss Wauters, in separate cars, simultaneously tried to turn onto a street from the same road.
Police reports and Miss Wauters' suit charge Cato became enraged when he believed she cut him off. He allegedly followed her, yelled obscenities and 'gestured obscenely' before crashing into the back of her car.
When the frightened woman later stopped, Cato returned and backed his car directly at Miss Wauters, who was standing beside her car, police said.
She said she pushed herself onto the hood of her car just as Cato's auto rammed into hers, reports said.
Cato later pleaded innocent to charges of assault with a deadly weapon and was ordered placed in a diversion program when he agreed to get psychiatric help and work 10 hours a week for a non-profit group, Community United Against Violence.
Miss Wauters, a part-time model and actress, was suing Cato for unspecified damages, claiming the incident caused a whiplash injury and 'severe emotional trauma.'
Cato, who was released on $3,500 bail following the incident Sunday that left Miss Gaynor in critical condition and Miss Martin serious, was unavailable for comment.
He was scheduled for arraignment Friday on three felony and two misdemeanor charges stemming from the collision between the borrowed van he was driving and a taxi that carried Miss Martin, her manager Ben Washer, who was killed, Miss Gaynor, and her husband-producer Paul Gregory.
