FORTUNE — Nirav Tolia, the CEO and co-founder of social network Nextdoor, plans to plead not guilty to felony hit-and-run charges at his court appearance on Tuesday.
Tolia was charged in San Mateo County less than two weeks ago over an accident that took place in August just south of San Francisco that left a woman injured. The woman, Patrice Motley, also filed a civil lawsuit against Tolia, in which she described him as driving recklessly. According to the complaint and a police report, Tolia switched lanes to overtake a vehicle, cutting Motley off and causing her to spin out of control across three lanes of traffic and crash into the median. The two vehicles never collided with each other, and Tolia left the scene without stopping.
Tolia’s lawyer, Daniel L. Barton, a partner at Nolan Armstrong & Barton in Palo Alto, said there was nothing unusual about Tolia’s actions.
“A lot of misinformation is being disseminated by the P.I. lawyer,” Barton said in a telephone interview, using the shorthand for personal injury lawyer. “The police report indicates that Mr. Tolia was driving at a safe and lawful speed and the other vehicle was driving faster.”
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According to a California Highway Patrol report, both Tolia and Motley told police that they were driving at about 55 to 60 miles per hour at the time of the accident on Highway 101, though Motley says Tolia’s BMW SUV was driving slightly faster than her Honda del Sol.
“My goal is to resolve the case based on what happened in the roadway, not by the information that is being spoon-fed to the media,” Barton said.
Last week Tolia told Fortune that he didn’t believe his actions caused Motley to lose control of her vehicle and that he didn’t know she was injured.
The charges are unrelated to Tolia’s position as CEO of Nextdoor, yet they could create problems for the company, as it seeks to entice more cities and police departments to use the neighborhood-based social network to communicate with residents.
