By Ishita Srivastava For Dailymail.Com

Published: 03:42 BST, 5 September 2024 | Updated: 04:13 BST, 5 September 2024

A 32-year-old doctor in California has died after she was fatally struck by a vehicle while riding an electric scooter.

Dr. Geohaira Sosa, a first-year psychiatry resident physician at UC Davis, lost her life at around 10.30am on August 29 after she was hit by the incoming vehicle in Sacramento. 

The collision occurred at near the 1200 block of Alhambra Boulevard, at the intersection of Folsom Boulevard. 

According to a GoFundMe launched by the UC Davis Department of Psychiatry, Sosa had started her residency two months ago after moving from Queens, New York. 

Dr. Geohaira Sosa, a first-year psychiatry resident physician at UC Davis, lost her life at around 10.30am on August 29 after she was hit by the incoming vehicle in Sacramento while riding her scooter

‘Geo was an absolutely beautiful person inside and out. Many of her co-interns who had the privilege and joy of spending time with Geo these past few months felt that she was becoming one of our own best friends.

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‘She radiated joy, kindness, and authenticity. We hope to carry forward her spirit in our communities,’ the crowdfunding page read. 

The Puerto Rican was the first of her family to pursue medicine and was extremely proud of her roots. 

She had earned her bachelor’s degree in biology and psychology at Queens College as a first-generation college student. 

According to a GoFundMe launched by the UC Davis Department of Psychiatry, Sosa had started her residency two months ago after moving down from Queens, New York

The Puerto Rican was the first of her family to pursue medicine and was extremely proud of her roots

Sosa acted as a mental health ambassador for low-income college students with mental illnesses

According to the The Sacramento Bee, Sosa had attained a master’s degree in urban bioethics and attended medical school at Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.  

She had also worked on a newsletter providing health education to current and former incarcerated people. 

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Apart from this, Sosa acted as a mental health ambassador for low-income college students with mental illnesses. 

The crowdfunding page has raised $36,396 – significantly more than its original goal of $30,000.  

Former California State Senate Democratic Majority Leader Gloria Romero announced her decision at a press conference hosted by Republican commentator Steve Hilton, who livestreamed it on his X account. She was joined by several leading Republican legislators.

“In this Capitol behind me, I served as both Senate Democratic Caucus chair and the Senate majority leader. But today I say goodbye. Adios! I’ve had enough,” she said.

Romero recalled her role as the Democratic convention delegate for the Rev. Jesse Jackson, then for former President Barack Obama at three separate conventions. She said her heroes growing up were Democratic titans Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy.

“This is not the Democratic Party that I once championed,” she said. “I do not recognize it anymore, and I cannot continue. I changed my voting registration today as the sun was rising to Republican, which has, under Donald Trump, become the champion of working people … and indeed, I will vote for Donald Trump this fall.”

For her reasoning, she accused the Democrats of stifling democracy, going so far as to compare them to Latin American dictators. She said the party rigs primaries against candidates, such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and executed a “political coup” against President Joe Biden.

Romero also hit the Democrats on women’s rights, criticizing the undermining of Title IX protections, and going too far on abortion. Immigration, crime, and the rising cost of living were topics of her criticism as well.

“But perhaps my biggest disconnect with my old party now has been over school choice, education freedom, and the right to have quality schools for all, especially as congressman Kevin Kiley and I have fought together, especially for school choice for poor and minority children who are trapped in chronically failing schools,” she added.

Romero concluded that she left the party “with sadness, but it is with the belief that this is best for the future. I stayed for as long as I could. I tried reforms, I spoke out, I voted. Today, I turn to the future. A land of opportunity and free speech. I am excited to join a party that was started by the greatest American, Abraham Lincoln, and the challenges of building a new great republic.”

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After leaving office in 2010, Romero has been increasingly critical of the Democratic Party. In a November 2021 op-ed for the California Globe, she warned about a decline of the party unless an overhaul was undertaken.

“As a lifetime Democrat, I am horrified to see a Democratic Party I once revered—a party that sent us to the moon and back and inspired a new generation of youth like me with messaging replete with opportunity, hope, optimism, and belief in working-class Americans—now on the path to irrelevance and political extinction across major swaths of our country,” she wrote.

The California state legislature passed a Democrat-led bill last week that, if signed by the state’s governor, would ban private colleges from admitting preferred applicants who are related to alumni, employees or donors.

The bill, AB 1780, passed the Assembly unanimously and also cleared the Senate, with just five Republicans voting against it. It now heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk for approval. 

According to the bill’s Democratic author, Assemblymember Philip Ting, the bill “is in response to last summer’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that bans race considerations in the college admissions process.”

“If race can’t be a factor, Ting and other supporters believe wealth or relationships shouldn’t be considered either,” Ting’s office said in a news release.

CALIFORNIA REPUBLICAN LAWMAKER REACTS TO ‘CRAZY’ BILL THAT WOULD GIVE UNDOCUMENTED FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYERS MONEY

“Equal opportunity is the name of the game here. Everyone should be considered fairly,” Ting said in a statement. “Hard work, good grades and a well-rounded background should earn you a spot in the incoming class – not the size of the check your family can write or who you’re related to. If we value diversity in higher education, we must level the playing field. That means making the college application process more fair and equitable.”

This is not the first time Ting tried to get this legislation passed to prevent preferential admissions from occurring at colleges like Stanford University or University of Southern California. The current bill has undergone several revisions from previous versions.

An earlier version of the bill would strip private universities of their state grant funding if they were found to be practicing legacy admissions, but it was removed from the most recent legislation.

CALIFORNIA REPUBLICAN LAWMAKER REACTS TO ‘CRAZY’ BILL THAT WOULD GIVE UNDOCUMENTED FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYERS MONEY

SACRAMENTO, CA – July 17: California state Capitol for file art. Photographed at state Capitol on Sunday, July 17, 2022 in Sacramento, CA. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

According to Ting’s office, reports indicate that last fall, six California colleges still prioritize applicants with ties to alumni and donors. The University of Southern California admitted the most students – 1,791 – while Stanford admitted 295. Claremont McKenna and Harvey Mudd each admitted 15, and Northeastern admitted fewer than 10, while Santa Clara University reported 38, down from 1,133 the previous year. 

If Newsom signs the bill into law, California will become the fifth state to ban legacy admissions. 

Last year, Democrats on the Hill introduced a similar bill called the Fair College Admissions for Students Act, while some Republicans criticized it. 

“It’s a little bit interesting that the elite universities which have done so much virtue signaling with regard to addressing disparities have this by which to cultivate loyalty among its students,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., told HuffPost.

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom applauds during Day one of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 19, 2024. (REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer)

“Without taking a position, I can’t help but note that irony,” Cassidy, who is a ranking member of the Senate Health and Education Committee said. “If it turns out that that is a major contributor to inequality to our nation, I would expect them to voluntarily end it if they truly mean all those things for which they signal virtue.”

Republican Sens. Ted Cruz, Tim Scott and JD Vance indicated at the time they may support the bill, which has not had significant movement since July 2023. 

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This month, Illinois joined Colorado and Virginia in banning legacy admissions at public colleges and universities. Maryland stands out as the only state that has banned the practice at both private and public institutions. Meanwhile, New York, Massachusetts and Minnesota are actively debating similar measures in their states.