DUI Driver Arrested After Car Crash
DUI aka Driving Under the Influence of drugs or alcohol is just pure selfishness. Not only are you endangering yourself, but everyone on or near wherever you are as well.
A DUI Driver has now been arrested after their involvement in a fiery two vehicle crash. The crash left a nine-teen year old student dead and had injured several other young adults.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the driver of a Honda Civic smashed into the driver’s side door of a red Ford Mustang at an intersection of Roscoe Boulevard and Lindley Avenue. The crash happened around 3:30 in the morning. One of the involved vehicles went up in flames.
There were a total of five people injured in the crash,three females and two males. Some of the injured were in critical condition. One of the female victims was sadly pronounced dead shortly after the crash.
LAPD Detective William Bustos’ Statement about the Crash
Unfortunately, due to the tremendous amount of impact on to that driver’s side door… a 19-year-old female lost her life here at the scene.
The young lady who died was later identified by the L.A. County Coroner’s office as nineteen year old, Desirae Crystal Crittenden. A father of one of the victims confirmed that she was Crittenden’s best friend and also in the car at the time of the crash.
Dwight Johnson Recalls His Daughter’s Memory of the Crash
According to my daughter, they were laughing and talking and she said the next thing that she knew … she realized that someone had hit them.
Johnson said that his daughter was doing OK a little after the crash, but is very, understandably, distraught over the loss of her friend.
The dear friends of Crittenden started a memorial for their friend. They started placing flowers and candles at the scene of the crash. Others took to social media, like Facebook, to show their love and support of their fallen friend. People described Crittenden as kind-hearted, intelligent, and a beautiful woman who had a bright future in front of her.
Johnson’s Statement:
I’m grieving for the family of her friend and the loss, and what their father must be experiencing on this Father’s Day, a true tragedy.
The passenger in the Honda had suffered from life-threatening injuries. According to LAPD Sgt. Dana Adams, the person had to be hospitalized for their condition and wasn’t expected to survive. The police have not released the names of all those involved in the crash. However, they have stated that all were in the ages of 18-21.
The driver of the Honda was twenty-one years old. The driver had to be hospitalized and was last reported to be in stable condition. The driver was also arrested on suspicion of a DUI. A witness who lives near the crash site made a statement to KTLA stating that he saw the officers picking up beer cans at the scene of the incident just after the crash happened.
The cause of the crash is under investigation, but it seems like they are claiming it to be a DUI crash. If anyone has information about this crash, the uathorities are asking that you call the LAPD VAlley Traffic Detective Gamboa at 818-644-8034 or Officer Bustos at 818-644-8010.
Update On DUI Crash
The driver of the fiery two-car crash was still hospitalized on Monday. The driver was also being called “a person of interest” in the crash. Since a young lady died and there was suspicion of DUI I’m sure the investigation will be ongoing for some time.
At first the reports stated that the driver had been arrested on a suspicion of drunken driving. However, that’s not true. The driver had not been officially arrested or in custody due to the fact that he or she was still in the Hospital recovering.
Some information has finally been released on the driver. Turns out the driver of the Honda was a twenty-one year old male. According to Officer Bustos, the male driver was a person of interest in the Northridge crash.
The young male driver was behind the wheel of a 2005 Honda Civic. The Honda had collied with a 2005 Ford Mustang at a very early hour on Sunday. The crash happened at 3:30 in the morning at Roscoe Boulevard and Lindley Avenue. This, coming from a news release from the Los Angeles Police Department.
The driver of the Mustang, 19 year old, Desirae Crystal Crittenden sadly died at the scene of the crash. There were three passenger in the Honda civic. They also had to be hospitalized after the crash. According to Officer Bustos, there was one male and he was in the left rear seat of the Honda. He was also in critical condition. The other two passengers were both eighteen year old girls. One of the girls were released from the hospital pretty quickly, however the other one we’re not sure if they were released quickly or not.
There was a female passenger inside of the Mustang. She was in the front seat and had to remain in the hospital due to her serious injuries, according to detective Bustos.
The young woman told her father that the last thing she remembered before the crash was just laughing with her friend and then they were suddenly struck by another vehicle. The driver who died was the injured woman’s best friend.
The Police also checked for impairment. Bustos said that a result of a field sobriety test could actually lead to an arrest in the involvement of this crash.
About Drunk Driving From MADD
Americans take 233 billion trips in cars each year. Of those, about one out of every two thousand trips are taken by those who are driving under the influence of alcohol. Yet, almost one out of every three traffic deaths involve drunk driving.
So a proportionally tiny amount of bad behavior is one of the major causes of death and injury on our roadways.
Every 53 minutes on average, someone is killed in a drunk driving crash (9,878 people in total in 2011). Every two minutes, someone is injured because of this entirely preventable crime. You can learn more about drunk driving in your state.
About one-third of the drunk driving problem – arrests, crashes, deaths, and injuries – comes from repeat offenders. At any given point we potentially share the roads with 2 million people with three or more drunk driving offenses. Taking away their licenses isn’t enough; 50-75% of them drive anyway. This is why we need to require ignition interlocks for all drunk driving offenders – we can stop these offenders before they repeat their crimes.
Two-thirds of the drunk driving problem comes from people who, before they kill or injure themselves or others, have yet to be arrested. That’s why we need to support law enforcement to help deter drunk drivers through proven solutions like sobriety checkpoints. It’s also why we strongly support research into technology that will eliminate drunk driving.
We need your help to eliminate this threat – please join us in the fight against drunk driving.
Daniel A. Gibalevich
DAG Law Firm
