Just down the street from our home at 4:45 p.m., an “under the influence” driver failed to stop for a red light and crashed into a vehicle stopped in front of him. After taking his statement, Orange County Sheriff deputies allowed him to leave the accident scene.
Minutes late, this driver caused another serious accident resulting in one elderly victim requiring surgery. He was arrested for operating a vehicle while under the influence.
We have zero tolerance for this kind of conduct. Our daughter and her friends who drive this particular street almost every day could have been injured or worse. Everyone who lives in our community knows how busy this particular street is. It runs right next to the local high school and is a main road down in to Dana Point.
And this is one of the reasons we’re so upset with how this was handled.
Another reason we’re disappointed in the handling of this case is that the driver who caused these accidents was an Orange County Sheriff deputy. At the time of the collisions, he was on paid administrative leave (don’t know why but you can probably fill in the blanks). He was obviously given some kind of “professional courtesy” after the first accident and under these circumstances, that’s not OK.
In April, this deputy had pled guilty to 12 felonies, including selling fake cocaine to buy prescription drugs. When he later showed up in court for sentencing, he was again “under the influence” and his sentencing date was continued.
The good news is that on Friday, this guy was finally sentenced to 32 months in prison for multiple felonies, including driving under the influence of prescription drugs and injuring a 78 year-old woman.
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Related police misconduct case… $5,500,000.00 Excessive Use of Force by Moreno Valley Police Department
Jacqueline was 20 years old when the car she was riding in was hit by a drunk driver
