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A drunk driver was killed and four people were injured in a highway accident in Santee. (Video capture: Channel 10 News)

Highway crash: A drunk driver died and four other people were seriously injured Sunday night in a wrong-way accident on State Route 52 in Santee.

•    A drunk driver drove onto a highway in the wrong direction and slammed head-on into a minivan.

•    The drunk driver died instantly. 

•    A mother and her three daughters, who were in the minivan, were hospitalized with major injuries. The mother and one daughter were in critical condition.

The drunk-driving accident occurred at about 9:10 p.m., according to a Channel 10 News report.

California Highway Patrol Officer Tommy Doerr said 30-year-old Matthew Leonardo of Santee got onto State Route 52 driving the wrong direction. He was driving a 2012 Ford Focus westbound  in the eastbound lanes of State Route 52 when the accident happened.

The Ford Focus slammed head-on into an oncoming 2001 Dodge Caravan driven by the 45-year-old Alisa Cunningham of Spring Valley, whose husband Will Cunningham is the boys varsity basketball coach at Cathedral Catholic High School. Three of their daughters — Taylor, Jayden, and Logan – were in the minivan.

The vehicles were traveling  65 to 70 mph when they crashed. Doerr said Leonardo, who “had the distinct odor of an alcoholic beverage about him,” was killed instantly.

Alisa Cunningham and all three of her daughters were rushed to Sharp Memorial Hospital and were scheduled to undergo surgery for multiple broken bones. The mother and 17-year-old Taylor, who was named Miss San Diego’s Outstanding Teen 2013, were listed in critical condition. Jayden and Logan were listed in stable condition.

Taylor was riding in the front passenger seat and suffered severe head injuries. She remained unconscious as doctors attempted to reduce the swelling on her brain, according to the Channel 10 video report.

What happens when the driver who is at fault dies in the accident?

Sometimes in a serious accident the individual who caused the crash suffers fatal injuries. Can the innocent victim still make a claim?

The answer is yes. The case survives even when the wrongdoer doesn’t. The insurance carrier for the car that the wrongdoer was driving remains liable for damages. If that policy does not have enough coverage, additional compensation may be sought via Underinsured Motorist coverage from the insurance carrier for the vehicle in which the innocent victim was a driver or passenger.

If a lawsuit is necessary, it would be filed against the estate of the wrongdoer. If there is no estate, then the injured party can force an estate to be set up to handle the lawsuit.

San Diego Highway Accident Lawyers

A mother and her two sons were killed by a drunk driver in Daly City. (Video capture: ABC News)

A Sunnyvale man is being held without bail on triple homicide charges after a drunk driving accident killed a mother and her two sons Saturday night in Daly City. A fourth victim was critically injured.

•   A 28-year-old man drank for several hours with friends and then got behind the wheel of a BMW, rear-ended another car, and sped away on city streets at 60 mph.

•   The BMW then T-boned a Toyota, killing a mother and her two sons, and critically injuring a fourth person.

•   The drunk driver, who is being held without bail, was charged with three counts of gross vehicular manslaughter, felony DUI causing great bodily injury, and misdemeanor hit-and-run.

The fatal car accident occurred shortly after 8 p.m., according to a CBS News report. 

Assistant District Attorney Al Serrato said 28-year-old Sunnyvale resident Denis Pereirade Macedo drank heaviily for nearly five hours before he got behind the wheel and rear-ended another vehicle at a stop sign on Eastmoor Avenue.

Macedo then drove around the vehicle and fled the scene in his BMW, heading west on Eastmoor at a speed of up to 60 mph, Serrato said.

A few seconds later, Macedo T-boned a Toyota Tercel that was making a U-turn. The driver of the Tercel, 50-year-old Josefa Osorio Acevedo, was killed, along with her two sons, 23-year-old Amado Osorio Acevedo and 15-year-old Josue Osorio.

Another passenger in the car, Amado Acevedo’s girlfriend, 20-year-old Sarah Sangraw of Daly City, was hospitalized with major injuries, according to a San Francisco Chronicle report. She remained in the hospital on Tuesday.

Macedo was arrested and booked into the San Mateo County jail, where he is being held without bail. His blood alcohol level at the time of the accident was 0.18 percent, Serrato said. That is more than double the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

The drunk driver was charged with three counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while driving under the influence, felony DUI causing great bodily injury, and misdemeanor hit-and-run, Serrato said.

According to the San Mateo County Times, Macedo was already on probation for a Santa Clara County drunk driving conviction when the crash happened.

Daly City Wrongful Death Lawyers

A drunk driver couldn’t negotiate this curve in Vacaville and slammed his car into the telephone pole, injuring two passengers.

Police arrested a 21-year-old man for a drunk driving accident that seriously injured two passengers Monday night in Vacaville. Police were looking for a third passenger who left the scene.

•   A group of friends were drinking in a local park. One of them, who was deemed to be ‘least intoxicated,’ drove them home.

•   The driver failed to negotiate a curve and slammed the car into a telephone pole.

•   Two of the passengers were hospitalized with major injuries. The other one left the scene.

•   The 21-year-old driver was arrested on charges of felony drunk driving causing injury and driving on a suspended license.

 The car accident occurred at about 11 p.m., according to a news report in the Vacaville Reporter.

Police said 21-year-old Vacaville resident Anthony Barragan-Sullivan had been drinking with friends in a park before the accident.

Barragan-Sullivan got behind the wheel of the car, which belonged to one of the passengers, to drive everyone home ”because he was believed to be the least intoxicated,” police said.

He was unable to negotiate a curve on Dobbins Street near Deodora Street (see photo). The car hit the curb and slammed into a telephone pole, knocking out power to the area.

A passenger who had been riding in the front seat got out of the car and left the scene. The two back seat passengers were trapped inside the wrecked vehicle.

Barragan-Sullivan called police and remained at the scene. Emergency crews had to cut away part of the vehicle to extricate the two trapped women, whose names were not released.

Both of the women suffered major injuries and were hospitalized. One of them was listed in serious condition and the other was listed in stable condition, police told the Reporter. No further information about the nature of their injuries was released.

Barragan-Sullivan was arrested at the scene and then taken to a hospital to be seen by a doctor. Once he was medically cleared, he was booked into Solano County Jail and charged with driving on a suspended driver’s license and felony driving under the influence, resulting in injury.

Police were still looking for the woman who was riding in the front seat in order to ask her about the accident.

Vacaville Drunk Driving Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented car accident victims and their families for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

Three pedestrians were killed by a drunk driver in Anaheim.

Fatal pedestrian accident: A mother, daughter, and niece were struck and killed by a drunk driver Sunday night in Anaheim.

•   Three women were crossing the street after a baby shower when they were struck by a drunk driver.

•   All three women were killed in the accident.

•   The driver who hit them was arrested on charges of felony drunk driving and vehicular manslaughter.

The deadly drunk driving accident occurred at about 11 p.m., according to an NBC News report.

Anaheim Police Sgt. Bob Dunn said the three victims — 56-year-old Carmen Mendoza, daughter Sheyla Mendoza, 21, and niece Stephanie Henriquez, also 21 — were walking home from a baby shower when the accident happened.

The women were crossing Western Avenue (at Lincoln Avenue) when they were stuck by a red four-door Honda Civic traveling northbound on Western. His rate of speed was not immediately known.

All three women were killed. Sheyla Mendoza died at the scene, according to a report in the Long Beach Press-Telegram.  The other two victims were taken to UCI Medical Center, where they were pronounced dead.

The driver, 40-year-old Anthony Lewis Sanchez of Buena Park, was arrested charges of felony drunk driving and vehicular manslaughter, Dunn said.

Sanchez and his unidentified female passenger both suffered minor injuries and were taken to area hospitals to be treated. Sanchezs was booked into the Orange County Men’s Intake Release Center with bail set at $500,000. He was scheduled to appear in Central Jail Court on Monday.

Anaheim Pedestrian Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented the families of pedestrian accident victims for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

A police officer was seriously injured when he was hit by a drunk driver in San Diego.

A San Diego police officer remains hospitalized with major injuries after his vehicle was broadsided early Sunday morning by a drunk driver who ran a red light at Mission Gorge Road in Santee.

•    A 21-year-old drunk driver exited a highway at high speed and ran a red light at the end of the exit.

•    The drunk driver T-boned a San Diego Police Department patrol car on the driver’s side, seriously injuring a 24-year-old officer.

•    The officer had to be extricated from his vehicle with the Jaws of Life. He suffered major injuries and required multiple surgeries.

•    The drunk driver’s blood alcohol level was almost three times the legal limit. 

The drunk driving accident occurred at about 2:30 a.m., according to an NBC News report.

San Diego Police Department Lt. Jim Walker said an on-duty police officer, later identified as 24-year-old Travis Betley, was returning to his beat after dropping off a prisoner at Las Colinas Detention Facility at the time of the accident.

Walker said 21-year-old Lake Forest (Orange County) resident Samuel Sullivan exited State Route 125 at a high rate of speed and ran the red light at the end of the exit, on Mission Gorge Road.

Sullivan’s red Toyota pickup truck slammed into the driver-side door of Betley’s patrol car. The high-speed impact knocked both vehicles off of the road.

Betley was trapped in his vehicle. It took emergency personnel almost 45 minutes to extricate him, using the Jaws of Life. The young officer suffered multiple injuries, including a broken leg and internal injuries. He was expected to undergo several surgeries that could prevent him from returning to work for up to a year, according to the NBC report.

Sullivan, who admitted he had been drinking, was arrested at the scene. He was treated for minor injuries and booked into jail.

UPDATE | January 7: Sullivan pleaded not guilty to felony drunk driving charges in relation to the accident. Deputy District Attorney James Romo said Sullivan’s blood alcohol level at the time of the accident was 0.22, almost three times the legal limit. He faces up to six years in prison if he is convicted, Romo said. [Source:  CBS Channel 8 News.]

San Diego Drunk Driving Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented car accident victims and their families for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

James Kelly Griffith (inset) was arrested on drunk driving charges after an injury accident in Anderson. (Inset photo: Anderson Valley Post)

Police arrested a man on felony drunk driving charges Monday night after a rollover accident that injured another man on Highway 273 in Anderson, about 13  miles south of Redding.

•    A drunk driver caused a rollover crash.

•   The other driver was hospitalized with injuries.

•   The drunk driver was arrested and jailed.

The car accident occurred at around 9:30 p.m., according to a report in the Anderson Valley Post.

Anderson police Sgt. Sean Miller said 35-year-old James Kelly Griffith of Anderson was drunk when the rollover crash happened.

Few details were available, but Miller said it was likely that Griffith was at fault.

he other driver — 18-year-old Cody Bugarin, also of Anderson — was injured in the accident and was taken to a local hospital to be treated.

Police arrested Griffith on two drunk driving charges — driving under the influence with a blood alcohol content of .10 or greater and driving under the influence causing great bodily injury. He was booked into the Shasta County Jail and held in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Miller said the accident remains under investigation.

Redding Drunk Driving Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented drunk driving accident victims for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

A man crashed into a Hacienda Heights bar shortly after he was 86ed by the bartender. (Photo: NBC)

Drunk driver: A man who was kicked out of a Hacienda Heights bar Wednesday night returned a few minutes later with a bang — his car crashed right through the front wall.

•    An intoxicated 31-year-old man was kicked out of a karaoke lounge by the bartender.

•    The man left the bar, went to the parking lot, and drove his car through the front of the building.

•    Police said the transmission malfunctioned and shifted the car into drive.

In what could have been an out-take from “The Hangover,” an intoxicated patron of the Sunset Room Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge had what probably will go down as the worst karaoke night of his life.

The man — later identified as 31-year-old Raziel Gomez of La Puente — was asked to leave the bar at about midnight, according to an NBC News report.

Gomez left the bar, but he didn’t stay out.

He went out to the parking lot at 2029 South Hacienda Boulevard, got into his 1994 Lincoln Mark IV, and drove it straight through the front wall of the cocktail lounge. His car might have kept on going all the way to the karaoke stage, but some oversized amplifier speakers apparently acted as a barrier.

“I was sitting in there enjoying the karaoke, and all of the sudden I hear this big old bang,” a Sunset Room customer told NBC. “I thought, at first, it was a gunshot.”

The drive-through wasn’t an intentional act of revenge, though. California Highway Patrol officer D.A. Williams said the initial investigation indicated it was a case of a malfunctioning transmission lever.

“The driver was stepping on the accelerator at the time and it shifted into drive,” Williams said. “It accelerated rapidly into the building.”

CHP Officer Joe Zizi told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune that investigators at the scene determined Gomez was under the influence of alcohol and arrested him. He was taken to jail, where his bail was set at $5,000.

Thankfully no one was injured, but both the Mark IV and the Sunset Room sustained some fairly serious damage. The front of the car is smashed up and there’s a 30-foot-long hole where the cocktail lounge’s front wall used to be.

Hacienda Heights Car Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented car accident victims for 35 years.  The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126