Funeral set for Walnut Creek father, victim of road rage

Here's a tragic reminder of the dangers of road rage. A funeral is set for later this week for a Walnut Creek man who was killed in a horrible car crash and Richmond Police and the man's family are calling for all drivers to remain calm, and not let road rage take over because the results can be deadly.

Lisa Facchini can now only look back on memories she has of her father, 77 year old Anthony Tonti. "He was just an amazing man. And he was my dad!"

Tonti grew up in Richmond, graduated from U.C. Berkeley, and worked as an engineer. He was more recently a founding member of the Danville Community Band. "He was silly and he was a practical joker. And he was kind. And he could build and make anything," she said through tears.

But early on January 29th, Tonti's life came to an abrupt end at the intersection of Ventura and Solano in Richmond. "He was struck by a Ford Ranger pickup truck that was going southbound on Ventura (Street) that did not stop for a stop sign and broadside him at a high rate of speed," explained Richmond Police Sergeant Aaron Pomeroy.

Tonti's daughter Lisa Facchini added, "It should have never happened. There were choices that that jackass made, that he could have changed." The driver she's referring to was allegedly 32-year old Obed Obeso of Richmond, who police say ran away from the crash scene. Officers traced the truck and caught Obeso days later.        

Investigators say this resulted from Obeso chasing another driver off the nearby freeway. "There was a road rage incident that occurred on Interstate 80 as they were returning from the city of Vallejo. Our driver, and or suspect, Mr. Obeso, got into an argument with another driver and decided to chase that individual," said Pomeroy, adding the vehicles reached speeds up to 60 miles per hour on city streets.

Tonti, who was driving home from his sister's house, was just an innocent victim of road rage. "If people would just take a deep breath and let things go ultimately things like this probably wouldn't happen nearly as much as they do," said Pomeroy.

Facchini agrees. "Calm down. Calm down. You're going to get there. There's no reason to be so upset because somebody cut you off. It's life."

Obeso is behind bars facing charges of vehicular manslaughter and hit and run. Tonti's funeral is set for Thursday.