High school senior takes plea in fatal DUI accident

RANCHO SANTA FE — A Torrey Pines High School senior pleaded guilty Nov. 10 to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in connection to an alcohol-related accident in which one of his teenage passengers died and another suffered serious injuries.

In lieu of his plea, the 17-year-old driver is expected to be placed on probation when he is sentenced next month; however, there is a possibility he could face additional confinement, including house arrest, his attorney has said.

The single-car crash occurred around 1:45 a.m. Oct. 4 on a windy road in 5000 block of La Granada near the Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club, authorities said. The driver, who had a blood alcohol level of .10 an hour after the accident, rolled his 2008 Mazda 3 while traveling at a high rate of speed, police said.

Alcohol and speed were both contributors in the crash, police said. The teenagers had been at a party prior to the accident.

The driver and his four teenage passengers were all students at Torrey Pines High School.

Alex Capozza, 17, died at the scene, while Jamie Arnold, 17, suffered blunt head trauma. Police said neither Arnold nor Capozza were wearing their seatbelts.

The driver is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 9 in San Diego Juvenile Court. He remains in custody at Juvenile Hall.

Meanwhile, a 20-year-old Oceanside resident accused of a single-vehicle accident in which his juvenile passenger was killed pleaded not guilty Nov. 12 at his brief arraignment hearing in a Vista courtroom.

Reyes Miranda is charged with gross vehicular manslaughter and felony DUI relating to a crash that occurred around 2 a.m. Nov. 8 on East Vista Way near Mason Road in Vista and killed 17-year-old Gerardo Chacon.

During the arraignment hearing, Deputy District Attorney Roy Lai said Miranda lost control of his Ford Mustang, hit a guardrail and then crashed through a bus-stop shelter.

Chacon, a junior at Vista High School, died at the scene as a result of blunt force trauma, authorities said.

Like the two aforementioned victims, police believe Gerardo was not wearing his seatbelt.

Miranda, who remains in custody on $200,000 bail, used the aid of a wheelchair and wore a neck and back brace throughout the brief hearing. His preliminary hearing was set for Jan. 11.

If convicted, he faces up to six years in prison, Lai said.

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California man pleads not guilty to San Diego DUI homicide

20-year-old Reyes Miranda has entered a "not guilty" plea to charges stemming from a suspected DUI accident last week.

Miranda was the driver of a Ford Mustang that crashed into a bus stop in the North County area of San Diego. His passenger, Gerardo Chacon, was not wearing a seat belt and was thrown from the vehicle. Chacon, a 17-year-old student at a local high school, died on site.

Exact details on how the two young men knew each other and what they were doing that evening are not clear. Miranda has been in trouble with the law in the past, while Chacon has been remembered fondly and is sorely missed in the community. These facts have lead to a someone "one-sided" report of the events from that night.

The accident occurred around 2AM on Sunday. Miranda was also severely injured. He wore a hospital gown and a back brace to the trial, which he also attended in a wheelchair. At least members of Miranda's family were there for support, but reports indicated Chacon's family was not present at the trial. Chacon's family and friends did hold a roadside memorial last week at the scene of the accident.

Initial bond was set at $200,000. Miranda faces vehicular homicide and other DUI-related offenses which may be punishable with up to 6 years in prison. He is set to attend a status hearing in early December. His official hearing is scheduled for January 11.



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Former news anchor Don Cannon arrested in California

Former TV news anchor Don Cannon has been arrested in California for failure to report for sentencing in two separate cases of driving under the influence.

Mr. Cannon, whose real name is Donald J. Clark, had pleaded guilty to two cases of DUI that occurred in 2007.

According to the Allegheny County sheriff's department, Mr. Cannon moved to Carlsbad, Calif., after his guilty plea. He was supposed to report to start serving his sentence last month and failed to do so.

Subsequently, two bench warrants were issued for his arrest.

Late last night, Allegheny County sheriff's deputies contacted police in Carlsbad and asked for their assistance in arresting Mr. Clark. They were told that Mr. Cannon had recently been arrested on another DUI charge and had been in court earlier that day.

Mr. Cannon was later arrested without incident at his home in Carlsbad and is being held without bond in San Diego County Jail, pending his extradition to Pittsburgh.


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Drunken Driving Blamed In Death Of 9-Year-Old In Carlsbad

A 9-year-old girl from Los Angeles County was fatally injured in a multi-vehicle crash today on northbound Interstate 5 blamed on a drunken driver.

The crash at Cassidy Street in Carlsbad occurred shortly after 1 a.m., the California Highway Patrol reported.

The girl was a rear passenger in a Lexus RX330 driven by Michael J. Wright, 23, of Commerce in Los Angeles County, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office.

The Lexus struck one vehicle and then collided with other vehicles, according to the medical examiner's office.

Paramedics took the girl to Rady Children's Hospital in Kearny Mesa, where she died minutes later, CHP Officer Larry Landeros said.

Another person was taken to Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside, Landeros said.

Wright was arrested on suspicion of DUI, according to the CHP.

The girl's name was withheld pending family notification. Her relationship to Wright was not immediately released.

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More DUI Enforcement on On Local Highway

SAN DIEGO — A law enforcement agency in San Diego’s north county is getting a grant to step up DUI enforcement along State Route 76.

The California Highway Patrol’s Oceanside office is getting 266,000 for increased DUI patrols and sobriety checkpoints along 38 miles of Route 76. There have been 13 deaths and 303 injuries related to DUI’s on the road in the past three years. Sergeant Tom Greenstone says the casinos in the area play a role in the crashes.

“We have a number of high incidences of crashes that are fatalities and DUI involved that we have been able to relate back to the casinos and not just one but all of them out there on the east side of I-15 on SR 76,” he said.

The grant comes from the State Office of Highway Safety. The extra enforcement measures will begin in September and last for about a year and a half.


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Five Vehicle San Diego Car Accident Shuts Down State Route 163

The morning of June 23, 2009, in San Diego was brought in with a massive car wreck on State Route 163 that involved five vehicles on the freeway, including a school bus. The crash occurred near Mesa College and the highway was cleared a few hours later.
The San Diego five-car accident happened on the northbound side of the 163 freeway at Mesa College Drive just before 8 a.m., as reported by the California Highway Patrol. The road was narrowed down to two highway lanes, as well as the Mesa College Drive offramp for about an hour. The SigAlert was lifted at about 9:01 a.m. One of the five vehicles involved flipped onto its side. Paramedics who had arrived on the scene took had to take one motorist to Sharp Memorial Hospital due to injuries from the traffic accident. The victim's condition is still currently unknown. You can read more about this San Diego car crash

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Driver Sentenced For Crash That Killed Bicyclist

EL CAJON, Calif. -- An unemployed drifter with a history of drunken driving convictions was sentenced Thursday to 11 years in prison for an alcohol-related hit-and-run crash that killed a bicyclist in Alpine.
Travis Chris Weber, 44, pleaded guilty May 26 to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and admitted an allegation of hit-and-run causing death.The 5 p.m. collision in the bicycle lane on eastbound Alpine Boulevard last Dec. 2 killed Edward Costa, a 30-year-old self-employed construction worker and father of two.Weber was taken into custody two days later.California Highway Patrol Officer Michael Edwards testified during a Jan. 21 preliminary hearing that when he searched a silver Ford F-150 belonging to the defendant, he found three empty half-pint bottles of vodka in the cab and seven empty beer cans in the bed of the vehicle.Edwards said he questioned Weber the night he was arrested outside the Liars' Club Tavern and Grill in Alpine. The defendant told him he had been on a drinking binge for five days and woke up in Campo hours after the collision and had no idea how he got there, the officer said.After his arrest, Weber had a blood-alcohol level of .19 percent, more than twice the legal limit of .08 percent, authorities said.San Diego County sheriff's Sgt. Joseph Sprecco testified that people who attended a memorial gathering at the crash site spotted the pickup truck in the parking lot across the street.CHP Officer Sid Turner said green paint from the victim's mountain bike was found on a bumper of the truck, and debris found at the scene -- specifically a broken headlight -- matched what remained on the truck.A woman testified that Weber rear-ended her about 20 minutes before the fatal crash, and that he became angry and screamed at her while they were exchanging information.Edwards said a witness told him he saw Weber drive away quickly from the fender-bender. The witness said the pickup went into the opposing traffic lanes and then over-corrected to the embankment.Weber had previous DUI convictions in New York and San Diego, said Deputy District Attorney Gordon Davis.

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Charges filed in fatal hit-run involving local cyclist

SAN DIEGO — Charges have been filed in an Illinois hit-and-run accident that killed a Chula Vista bicyclist who was on a cross-country ride to protest government bailouts.
Leon K. Marcum, 27, of Centralia, Ill., was charged with aggravated leaving the scene of an accident involving death in the Sunday crash that killed Jim Gafney, said Clinton County State's Attorney John Hudspeth.
Prosecutors are reviewing all details of the case, including Marcum's blood-alcohol level, and may also file felony driving under the influence charges, Hudspeth said.
Police originally cited Marcum for misdemeanor DUI and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, but those charges were withdrawn pending further review.
“We are doing everything we can to make sure we prosecute this case appropriately given the end result – that a man lost his life,” Hudspeth said.
Marcum was being held in jail on $100,000 bail, Hudspeth said.
Gafney, 65, a former Navy man and retired computer engineer who had worked at Camp Pendleton, was killed about 12:40 a.m. as he was riding his bike east on U.S. Route 50, about 60 miles east of St. Louis, Illinois State Police said.
He had left his home April 27 on what he had dubbed his “Mad As Hell Bike Ride Across U.S.” He was gathering signatures protesting what he called “taxation without representation” by politicians he referred to as “Obama prostitutes.”

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Sportscaster won't face DUI charges

SAN DIEGO – The City Attorney's Office will not file drunken driving charges against Kyle Kraska, sports director of KFMB-Channel 8.
Kraska was arrested March 14 after he nearly struck a police officer near his Sabre Springs home, San Diego police said.
City attorney spokeswoman Gina Coburn said that prosecutors decided not to file charges because they believe the case couldn't be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
Both the city attorney and police declined to release Kraska's blood-alcohol level.
Police said the officer was standing outside his patrol car at Angelique Street and Avonette Court about 8:20 p.m. on a juvenile runaway call when he saw a speeding car coming around the bend.
The officer said he flashed his lights and had to move out of the way so he wouldn't get hit, said police spokeswoman Mónica Muñoz. The driver, in a 2003 silver Mercedes, then accelerated and pulled into the driveway of his home nearby.
The officer followed and arrested Kraska.

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San Diego Jury: Police are Above the Law

After three days of deliberations, a jury San Diego — a militaristic community thoroughly besotted with people in state-issued costumes — acquitted police officer Frank White of felony gross negligent discharge of a firearm and a misdemeanor count of displaying a firearm in an “angry manner.”
The charges arose from a March 2008 “road rage” incident in which White shot Rachel Silva and her eight-year-old son. Silva had cut off White and backed into his car. She was shot twice in the arm and her son was hit once in the knee.
White, who was off-duty at the time and accompanied by his wife, initially claimed that he fired in “self-defense.” He later claimed that he fired his gun when Silva refused his demands to get out of her car. White never displayed a badge or identified himself as a police officer; witnesses to the shooting didn’t recognize the incident as a traffic stop or other enforcement action, but thought it was a domestic squabble.
Larry Ludlow, who has covered this case in the past, informs me: “During the trial, [White] lied several times and was caught in these lies, but the military-worshiping jurors didn’t care. They even swallowed the `fear of death’ excuse despite the difference in the size of the two vehicles — with [White's] vehicle being much larger.”
The case was also distorted by a grotesquely lenient charge: White should have been prosecuted for felonious assault with a deadly weapon, rather than “negligence.” In any case, owing to the fact that White was one of the state’s sanctified armed enforcers, he was acquitted of all charges and reinstated on the force.
Rachel Silva, on the other hand, admitted to being intoxicated and had the book thrown at her. She pleaded guilty to felony child endangerment and misdemeanor DUI charges. The only potentially positive aspect of this case is that Silva’s son will grow up with a usefully cynical attitude toward our tax-devouring “protectors.”


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