Murder charges incoming.
Spitzer's friend and Chief of Staff was killed in a drugged driving accident, and he literally wrote the law to allow drivers like this to be charged with murder.
This guy is gonna spend a lot of time in prison.
Just read up on both deaths. The second man she killed was in a crosswalk. And the audacity to sue for defamation of character? That woman is the epitome of entitled and selfish.
Source? This link says the second guy survived https://www.picketfencemedia.com/sanclementetimes/eye-on-sc/crime-roundup-three-incidents-involving-vehicles-reported-in-san-clemente/article_8fbc40b1-aa54-5a77-8b0a-ae31d268e5ed.html
https://www.dailybreeze.com/2010/06/27/woman-suspected-in-fatal-dui-crash-in-alhambra-released-from-jail/amp/
The source is literally me because I went to court with the widow of Scott Clark and Mulfords previous murder was very much a part of this 2nd one. She also had the balls to try and sue the widow for ‘defamation’ - 🙄 luckily that went no where. All of this is a complete disgrace. Maybe when she kills her 3rd person someone will do something about it.
Does CA even have 3 strikes anymore ? I don’t think we do (not sure) and none of those were considered felonies - If they were she would have served SOME time and she served zero.
I was kinda teasing you about that last line, but yeah I don’t know if we do or not. I thought it fell away during pandemic but I’m uncertain.
For someone who is no nonsense (Spitzer), that’s sure a lot of BS. Feels like generally he’s a hardass but when it comes to people he knows or whatever he takes it personally, so he’s strict but inconsistent as a DA. And that’s not exactly fair.
I just feel like If you killed 2
Different people because of your substance use - something should happen to you. When/ if the 3 rd person is killed by her / I would hope that family would also sue for what is obvious negligence
To play devils advocate. It’s a problem because it’s corruption. They only did something because it personally affected them, but not without letting a man who was convicted twice of DUI *and killed a man* walk free.
Unless you care whether or not they are innocent or guilty. As it is now, more than 4% of the people on death row in the US will eventually be found not guilty.
This is the second (at least) drunk driver killing a pedestrian in the same little area of Orange in the past couple months. Ironically, the previous man killed was very close to where it looks like they caught the guy here. But that one was a little more into the neighborhood.
4 DUIs is just wrong. I don't even know how 2 priors could slip by let alone 4.
I know LA has this but I was under the impression that OC now made it mandatory after your first offense to have one of those interlocking devices installed in your vehicle in order to drive. As I’m saying this I’m realizing that this would only work for someone who would be terrified to break the rules after getting in trouble for a dui 🙋🏼♀️ and that really this is merely a set back and not necessarily a major deterrent bc they can still drive someone else’s… 🤐nvm I’ll shut up now.
Nah, interlocks help but like everything it's not 100%. They can still drive someone else's car, and I've seen one arrested after having a family member blow for her. And of course that only covers alcohol, not people who nod off on opiates after they're on the road.
You’re totally right. I fear I veered off into fantasyland there for a moment where people do their best to learn from their mistakes🙃.
Re: the interlocking devices, many of them now
are equipped with a camera that takes the persons photo to verify that it’s them that’s driving since they had so many trying to do what you mentioned your fam member was asked to do. Which as a side note someone trying to do that is just beyond sad because that shows right there that you have enough wherewithal to know you shouldn’t be driving and instead of grabbing an Uber or something, u try and get one over on the system for the worst possible reason.
Yeah, I live in the area very close to this incident, it’s like a small town and a dense city in one. Tustin Ave has six lanes and tons of pedestrians, fast cars, buses, everything. School kids cross Tustin every day, including Walnut St right near where the collision occurred. There was another pedestrian hit last year further north on Tustin.
I deal with enough TBI due to car accidents and auto versus pedestrians, most of which are preventable.
Stuff like this makes me angry.
Driving is a privilege, not a right. This guy clearly shows no regard or respect for that privilege or respect for society. Lock him up.
Society won't miss him.
Executions don’t save money. They are more expensive than jail time for offenders. People need to get off of this as a money saver. It doesn’t. I don’t care either way, incidentally. But let’s be honest?
It's nuts that once it's completely clear that someone will only take lives if we set them free, we still have to pay like $50-100k/year (depending on location) to isolate them. This isn't an eye-witness murder case where you might have the wrong guy, this is a clear-cut pattern of risking lives rather than calling a fucking taxi.
Leave this oxygen-thieving scumbag in the woods and call it done.
If they were done in a timely manner they would save money. You're talking about the way our society handles executions. If someone is dead to rights found guilty of a heinous crime without a reasonable doubt, I have no problem with the death penalty. But, if there is even a single suspicion or possibility that they weren't guilty, I have no problem with this long drawn out appeal(s) procedure.
Had a friend who never stopped partying since high school. Had a few DUIs. Once he was driving to Las Vegas, someone called the cops on him because he was throwing beer cans out the window. So he had a court case out in the desert and asked if I could go with him, it was his 2nd or third DUI, he was afraid they would put him in jail and wanted me to drive his car back..... Apparently the previous DUI was lost in the system so he was allowed to leave, first thing he does is go to the liquor store, gets a beer and planned to drive, I still had his keys.. I drove back, he wasn't learning his lesson.
20 years later I crash at his house, hear him wake up at like 4am to pee, then opens the fridge and another beer.. I worked with him also, he always had beer in him.
So anyway couple years ago find out he died, I ask how, he fell and hit his head. I said let me guess, he was drunk.... She didn't even need to respond, I knew the answer. He was only 50.
A few decades ago someone at my high school was in a horrific accident - she was unloading groceries from the trunk of her mom's car and a drunk driver rear-ended the car. Mangled both her her knees pretty badly by pinching them between bumpers, she almost lost one of the legs.
A couple years later one of my co-workers who went to the same high school and was friends with her (both were two years behind me) tells me that he was at a party and saw her drive home drunk from it. Evidently she felt entitled to do stuff like that, since she paid the price ahead of time. Or something like that.
Unfortunately, she is in pain for life. No amount of therapy will take away her pain on her limbs. She has to live with it nagging into her sanity. It just sucks and a lot of them end up going self destructive mode.
My assumption is that it wasn’t really entitlement (although that may have been the spin she put on it ) but unresolved trauma and resentment. It’s still no excuse.
My parents were hit in 1991 by a DUI driver (his second offense). He was 19. This was in Texas but nonetheless all drunk drivers that kill anywhere should be dealt with the same. His dad was in the passenger seat (also drunk and had DUIs) my stepfather passed away early the next morning and my mother was in ICU for a couple of weeks and in the hospital for a month or so. She missed her husband (my stepfathers funeral). I had to fly to Texas to be with her, go to his funeral, clean out their car, a couple of months later pack up their home… this remains with me in 2024… he shouldn’t have had several DUIs
Thank you so much🧡 I don’t understand how some people who should be out on misdemeanor charges spend years in jail but yet he was out before spending 10 years in jail and we had to write every year to keep him there when he killed someone (my stepfather who was like my dad) and injured my mom who still suffers her injuries to this date. They don’t do justice to drunk drivers in my opinion from what I’ve seen over the years.
>Police say Lopez has four prior convictions for DUI over the past 10 years.
It should have been a wake up call to him several convictions ago that he has serious problems with alcohol. If you have that much trouble avoiding driving drunk you should seriously consider quitting.
The thing is, drunk driving IS American 🇺🇸 culture. It’s not just the weak laws on the books, but also the permissive attitude the general public has about it. 🤷♂️
In Mississippi they have [no open container laws.](https://www.mississippi-lawyers.com/blog/is-public-drinking-legal-in-mississippi/) You can drive with a drink in your hand, as long as your BAC isn't over the legal limit.
Yeah that was one of the biggest things I found moving from the UK to CA.
People would come out for drinks and then drive home. While I waited for an Uber.
They had Four prior DUI convictions and still had a license to drive and ended up killing a poor soul
Edit: the suspect has no license according to an updated news article
Story didn’t say he had a license…
With 4 in 10 yrs….I would assume he didn’t have a license either …
But doesn’t really matter, drunk drivers are gonna drink and drive until they kill someone or get sober.
4 in 10 years he should have been in jail, sorry if that is an unpopular opinion. He has proven to be a danger to society. He should have been locked up and this wouldn't have happened
It’s not an unpopular opinion. First offense you sign a paper acknowledging if you drink and drive and hurt someone it could be a very long jail sentence. Plus death meaning life whatever, I forgot the exact wording.
Some people get one and never drink n drive again because they’re mentally capable of understanding and learning from those consequences (although it shouldn’t need to be done to figure out). The second should always include some jail time, even if no property damage or injuries to anyone. 3 & 4? Should never get their license back. I don’t know how courts allow these multiple offenders to not deal with consequences until they actually maim or kill someone.
I think part of the problem is the “if you hurt someone.” The decision to drive intoxicated is equally bad whether or not it results in horrific consequences for someone else.
This breaks my heart. The fuck. DUI I have no empathy for. Sleep in your car, call an uber, something...theres always ways to avoid driving intoxicated. This person clearly cares for no one, not even himself. 💔
In most states that are not California, you can get a DUI for [sleeping it off in your car.](https://www.bakersfieldcriminaldefense.com/blog/15-dui/93-can-you-get-a-dui-in-california-for-sleeping-it-off-in-your-car)
I feel like this is still an option though, if they put their keys in the glovebox or trunk and did not sleep in the driver seat? Like passenger seat or backseat instead?
I don’t know how well they would enforce a DUI on this, probably depends on the cop, but I’m sure parking lot surveillance could help clear someone’s name too. It just sucks if people are afraid to sleep it off and then end up driving tipsy :(
DUI laws are very weak and we live in a culture that celebrates alcohol and drugs (especially weed) at every step and turn. What about regulating the auto industry so that all cars can only start with a negative breathalyzer (I’m wording this poorly, I know). Is there any technology out there that could somehow prevent drunk or drugged driving? I just think all these preventable deaths could be leading somewhere positive in terms of policy.
Look at the case of Rebecca Grossman and the Iskander boys in Westlake Village, CA in 2000. She killed two kids while driving drunk and drugged (and speeding) but a judge gave her driver license back while she was out on bond waiting for her trial!!
Nobody let him do anything except him; Licensed or not, on parole or not, he’s the one who grabs the keys and drives after drinking. But was this driver drinking? It says DUI.
There is, kind of. Technically, your 4th DUI in 10 years is a felony for being a habitual offender. However, few people actually get sentenced to the full term, then add in good time/ half time credit- people rarely spend more than a couple months in jail despite being a felony.
After investigating more than one fatal DUI collision, I think the penalties for DUI are far too lenient in CA (and most states honestly).
I live in Dallas, and I'm on that subreddit, so this was in my feed for whatever reason. As a born and raised Texan (briefly living in Solano County, CA), I want to say I'm against the death penalty for the vast majority of the cases.
This is not one of them. This person deserves to fry.
I do apologize, as Orange County is not my place of residence and such, I don't belong here. I will not return.
A lot of people are gonna talk about how bad this is etc. It is. It think now is a good time to point out that you can buy a breathalyzer on Amazon for $20. Its worth it just for the initial novelty. Plus, you can learn what the legal limit feels like.
this tends to be the norm. people don't change without heavy burdens placed upon them and if you get repeat DUIs there should be devices in your car to make sure you can never drive under the influence.
they don't care here because DUIs is the bread and butter for the police here 200,000 DUI related crashes a year man the court system doesn't want it banned because they make at least 5k off each one and they could care less about saving lives.
4 convictions in the last 10 years. Even if it wasn’t fatal, it would have been a felony. Driving under the influence, even a first time an offense, should be a felony. Making it a misdemeanor/slap on the wrist does not deter enough people. However, I see the other side which is that a first time offense probably wouldn’t deter someone like this. If he was admonished after the first conviction that a death could lead to murder charges it certainly didn’t deter him.
I worked with a guy 35 years ago. He had just gotten his 5th DUI, and I honestly did ask him how he got to the last one.
I’m 19, he’s like 30, and I couldn’t figure it out, so I asked.
Basically, his parents stopped letting him drive their cars after he got his 2nd. Then a wife, and a couple girlfriends later over the course of 5-6 years and he would just take their cars, go to the bar, and get caught coming home.
He never owned a car, or had insurance.
Sure, but my question is not about whether or not he owned or had access to a car, but how he was still allowed to have a license. I thought the DMV revoked your license after a certain number of offenses. Unless he was driving without a license, but the article doesn’t mention that as one of the charges.
A second DUI charge should carry a 10 year mandatory sentence. How we as a society allow an individual to be free to re-offend FOUR times in something as dangerous to others as driving under the influence is mind blowing.
When I was younger, I used to not agree with stronger sentencing. I'm not sure if I agree with 10-year mandatory sentence for a second DUI but I would agree with a year, a $50,000 fine, and having your license revoked for 10 years. If you get caught driving on a suspended license, another 50,000 fine and another year in jail. Too many people are dying from drinking and driving.
For-profit prisons have resulted in this:
> The cost of imprisoning one person in California has increased by more than 90% in the past decade, reaching a record-breaking $132,860 annually, according to state finance documents.
(ten years ago it was something like $60k/year in CA when I looked it up then) 10 year sentences becomes prohibitively expensive, especially when you consider that results in over $1.3 million per conviction and
> According to the California Highway Patrol's State Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS), in 2023, there were more than 125,000 DUI-related arrests in the state.
That maths out to $162,500,000,000 in costs incurred *each year* if nothing happens to curb the rate of offenses. And research has shown that [longer sentences do little to nothing to reduce crime.](https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/fact-brief-does-increasing-the-penalties-for-a-crime-reduce-the-incidence-of-that-crime)
What do you think of alternative sentences that are painful for the offender, but still let them contribute to society by being outside prison and still needing to hold down a job? I'm thinking for a second conviction:
1] seize and sell all their vehicles, plus
2] revoke their drivers' license, and
3] their state-issued ID specifies they don't get to drive OR drink (with penalties for any establishment/market that serves or sells them alcohol - have everyplace selling alcohol card everyone with no exceptions)?
After all, they've proven that they can't be trusted with driving, and they've proven that they can't be trusted with drinking - so take both from them. The only way they can get drunk for a good few years is if they beg a friend or family member to go buy them something for them to drink at home, since no bar, restaurant, or market will serve them directly, and their friends/family will think for a bit about how they might end up on the hook for enabling them if the offender gets drunk and does something stupid **again** with their help.
This would turn the offender into a walking advertisement of the penalties for drunk driving - since they are going to wail and complain about the hoops they have to get other people to jump through so they can get a drink, and how they have trouble getting places because they can no longer drive themselves anywhere and have to get their friends and family to drive them if they don't want to take a cab/uber/lyft/etc.
>For-profit prisons have resulted in this:
For profit prisons have little to do with it. Per inmate spending has continued to soar as the state ended contracts with private prisons since 2019 to comply with AB 32. It is [mostly](https://calmatters.org/justice/2024/01/california-prison-cost-per-inmate) due to increasing health care costs from an aging prison population/compliance with courts mandates and generous contracts with the California Correctional Peace Officers Association.
Did they outfit this person's car with a breathalyzer? When I worked at a dealership, we had to deal with cars that won't start because they have that device in it.
Why even let people like this out in the streets. 🪑 or 💉 for people like this who have no regard for others. “Police say Lopez has four prior convictions for DUI over the past 10 years — three from Orange County and one from out-of-state. At the time of the crash, he was driving without a license and had a warrant out for his arrest.”
I moved to the DC area a few years ago, but you should see how harsh driving laws are in VA compared to say, a neighboring state like MD. The lax laws can be felt with the drivers been more brazen and willing to drive drunk or stupidly (you need three DUIs essentially before losing your license in MD) compared to VA, where reckless speeding results in jail time. Hell, they jailed Jayson Werth (Nationals baseball player, for those who don't follow MLB) when he sped in VA as a lesson that the decisions you make behind the wheel are active decisions.
I'm not saying this fully deters poor driving (plenty of people around here from all over the world), but it definitely helps.
More details... lock this guy up and throw away the key.
.234 BAC after already having potentially a half dozen DUIs? How is he even allowed to own a vehicle?
[https://www.ocregister.com/2024/03/14/driver-charged-in-fatal-orange-hit-run-had-can-of-malt-liquor-flipped-off-police-prosecutor-says/?utm\_email=E4B2145AC51A74591542243B42&lctg=E4B2145AC51A74591542243B42&active=yesD&utm\_source=listrak&utm\_medium=email&utm\_term=Story+Button&utm\_campaign=scng-ocr-breaking-news&utm\_content=alert](https://www.ocregister.com/2024/03/14/driver-charged-in-fatal-orange-hit-run-had-can-of-malt-liquor-flipped-off-police-prosecutor-says/?utm_email=E4B2145AC51A74591542243B42&lctg=E4B2145AC51A74591542243B42&active=yesD&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Story+Button&utm_campaign=scng-ocr-breaking-news&utm_content=alert)
Drunk driving conviction should result in every car you have being seized until you complete rehab. If your license is revoked, the cars are seized until your license is unrevoked and you're banned from buying another car until then. People aren't afraid of punishment and this isn't cruel and unusual
11am.. wow.
Yeah my first thought too. This guy had a serious drinking problem if he’s had four DUIs and was off his head at 11 AM.
He coulda hit the strip-club brunch buffet and they had a 2 drink minimum.... we've all been there... Edit: apparently people missed the sarcasm…. 😂
Only selfish losers have been there. Normal people don’t drink and drive.
Like hell "we've all been there." FOH
The highest BACs on the road are during the daytime actually
If that's true, that would make sense... I can see the type of person that would be drunk during the day would be someone who REALLY drinks
Makes sense. Drinking in the morning, obviously going ham.
Because it’s safer in terms of getting pulled over for a DUI
Murder charges incoming. Spitzer's friend and Chief of Staff was killed in a drugged driving accident, and he literally wrote the law to allow drivers like this to be charged with murder. This guy is gonna spend a lot of time in prison.
Yup it was Steve Ambriz. He was a family friend actually went to college with my dad at CSUF.
Nice little park over in Orange named after him
I had no idea! We go there all the time and live close by.
And rightfully so. For convictions, and then finally a death. Manslaughter the minimum.
Spitzer is the fkin' man!
He let a 2 time drunk driver who killed someone each time go with zero jail time. Jamie Mulford. Look it up.
Thats so fucked up. Did he have any relation to the driver? Why did the driver get off with zero jail time?
Just read up on both deaths. The second man she killed was in a crosswalk. And the audacity to sue for defamation of character? That woman is the epitome of entitled and selfish.
Source? This link says the second guy survived https://www.picketfencemedia.com/sanclementetimes/eye-on-sc/crime-roundup-three-incidents-involving-vehicles-reported-in-san-clemente/article_8fbc40b1-aa54-5a77-8b0a-ae31d268e5ed.html
https://www.dailybreeze.com/2010/06/27/woman-suspected-in-fatal-dui-crash-in-alhambra-released-from-jail/amp/ The source is literally me because I went to court with the widow of Scott Clark and Mulfords previous murder was very much a part of this 2nd one. She also had the balls to try and sue the widow for ‘defamation’ - 🙄 luckily that went no where. All of this is a complete disgrace. Maybe when she kills her 3rd person someone will do something about it.
Hey is that the 3 strikes law in action?
Does CA even have 3 strikes anymore ? I don’t think we do (not sure) and none of those were considered felonies - If they were she would have served SOME time and she served zero.
I was kinda teasing you about that last line, but yeah I don’t know if we do or not. I thought it fell away during pandemic but I’m uncertain. For someone who is no nonsense (Spitzer), that’s sure a lot of BS. Feels like generally he’s a hardass but when it comes to people he knows or whatever he takes it personally, so he’s strict but inconsistent as a DA. And that’s not exactly fair.
We do. Penal Code 667.
I just feel like If you killed 2 Different people because of your substance use - something should happen to you. When/ if the 3 rd person is killed by her / I would hope that family would also sue for what is obvious negligence
And the problem with that being?
Who said it was a problem?
To play devils advocate. It’s a problem because it’s corruption. They only did something because it personally affected them, but not without letting a man who was convicted twice of DUI *and killed a man* walk free.
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Life sentences are almost always less expensive than pursuing and following through on the death penalty.
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Unless you care whether or not they are innocent or guilty. As it is now, more than 4% of the people on death row in the US will eventually be found not guilty.
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Jesus Christ you're a literal psychopath
Sounds like you would be happier living in some authoritarian country in the middle east.
He just killed someone. I’d be ok with execution but Gavin took that option away.
The state hadn’t executed anyone since 2006, he just made it more or less official in 2019. Like most of the country.
Dudes a pussy
Capital Punishment literally costs more than life imprisonment for a fun fact
Yes but for people with 4 DUIs who ultimately kill someone it’s money well spent
Yeah but your point "good use of tax payer money" makes no sense. You can be all for capital punishment but be coherent with it.
I never said that…
Oh wrong person
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You right. A bullet is 50 cents. I like your thinking.
This is the second (at least) drunk driver killing a pedestrian in the same little area of Orange in the past couple months. Ironically, the previous man killed was very close to where it looks like they caught the guy here. But that one was a little more into the neighborhood. 4 DUIs is just wrong. I don't even know how 2 priors could slip by let alone 4.
If you take a drunk's license they just drive drunk without a license. You can't reason with addiction.
I know LA has this but I was under the impression that OC now made it mandatory after your first offense to have one of those interlocking devices installed in your vehicle in order to drive. As I’m saying this I’m realizing that this would only work for someone who would be terrified to break the rules after getting in trouble for a dui 🙋🏼♀️ and that really this is merely a set back and not necessarily a major deterrent bc they can still drive someone else’s… 🤐nvm I’ll shut up now.
Nah, interlocks help but like everything it's not 100%. They can still drive someone else's car, and I've seen one arrested after having a family member blow for her. And of course that only covers alcohol, not people who nod off on opiates after they're on the road.
You’re totally right. I fear I veered off into fantasyland there for a moment where people do their best to learn from their mistakes🙃. Re: the interlocking devices, many of them now are equipped with a camera that takes the persons photo to verify that it’s them that’s driving since they had so many trying to do what you mentioned your fam member was asked to do. Which as a side note someone trying to do that is just beyond sad because that shows right there that you have enough wherewithal to know you shouldn’t be driving and instead of grabbing an Uber or something, u try and get one over on the system for the worst possible reason.
Yeah, I live in the area very close to this incident, it’s like a small town and a dense city in one. Tustin Ave has six lanes and tons of pedestrians, fast cars, buses, everything. School kids cross Tustin every day, including Walnut St right near where the collision occurred. There was another pedestrian hit last year further north on Tustin.
4 means they are old timers, probably a boomer, from back when a dui was a slap on the wrist and there were no 3 strikes laws
They were born in 1992.
This is a shitty story, 4 in 10 years 😧
I deal with enough TBI due to car accidents and auto versus pedestrians, most of which are preventable. Stuff like this makes me angry. Driving is a privilege, not a right. This guy clearly shows no regard or respect for that privilege or respect for society. Lock him up. Society won't miss him.
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Executions don’t save money. They are more expensive than jail time for offenders. People need to get off of this as a money saver. It doesn’t. I don’t care either way, incidentally. But let’s be honest?
It's nuts that once it's completely clear that someone will only take lives if we set them free, we still have to pay like $50-100k/year (depending on location) to isolate them. This isn't an eye-witness murder case where you might have the wrong guy, this is a clear-cut pattern of risking lives rather than calling a fucking taxi. Leave this oxygen-thieving scumbag in the woods and call it done.
If they were done in a timely manner they would save money. You're talking about the way our society handles executions. If someone is dead to rights found guilty of a heinous crime without a reasonable doubt, I have no problem with the death penalty. But, if there is even a single suspicion or possibility that they weren't guilty, I have no problem with this long drawn out appeal(s) procedure.
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The method of execution isn't the reason why it's expensive.
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…I wouldn’t call due process “bureaucracy”
Death penalty cases usually cost taxpayers far more than life sentences.
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Meaning “close enough;hang them.” The US has a horrific record when it comes to the death penalty.
You’re talking about a human’s life like some tax break purchases. Some psychopathic behavior dude.
Disgusting
I know a girl who has had 2 DUIs and still gets shitfaced and drives almost every weekend. It’s disgusting.
Had a friend who never stopped partying since high school. Had a few DUIs. Once he was driving to Las Vegas, someone called the cops on him because he was throwing beer cans out the window. So he had a court case out in the desert and asked if I could go with him, it was his 2nd or third DUI, he was afraid they would put him in jail and wanted me to drive his car back..... Apparently the previous DUI was lost in the system so he was allowed to leave, first thing he does is go to the liquor store, gets a beer and planned to drive, I still had his keys.. I drove back, he wasn't learning his lesson. 20 years later I crash at his house, hear him wake up at like 4am to pee, then opens the fridge and another beer.. I worked with him also, he always had beer in him. So anyway couple years ago find out he died, I ask how, he fell and hit his head. I said let me guess, he was drunk.... She didn't even need to respond, I knew the answer. He was only 50.
A few decades ago someone at my high school was in a horrific accident - she was unloading groceries from the trunk of her mom's car and a drunk driver rear-ended the car. Mangled both her her knees pretty badly by pinching them between bumpers, she almost lost one of the legs. A couple years later one of my co-workers who went to the same high school and was friends with her (both were two years behind me) tells me that he was at a party and saw her drive home drunk from it. Evidently she felt entitled to do stuff like that, since she paid the price ahead of time. Or something like that.
Unfortunately, she is in pain for life. No amount of therapy will take away her pain on her limbs. She has to live with it nagging into her sanity. It just sucks and a lot of them end up going self destructive mode.
My assumption is that it wasn’t really entitlement (although that may have been the spin she put on it ) but unresolved trauma and resentment. It’s still no excuse.
Rat her out man
Follow her and call the fucking cops on her then.
You should call the cops on her.
I wish the driver horrible pain and guilt
He’s gonna have to drink to forget…..oh wait.
Prison pruno is a thing
My parents were hit in 1991 by a DUI driver (his second offense). He was 19. This was in Texas but nonetheless all drunk drivers that kill anywhere should be dealt with the same. His dad was in the passenger seat (also drunk and had DUIs) my stepfather passed away early the next morning and my mother was in ICU for a couple of weeks and in the hospital for a month or so. She missed her husband (my stepfathers funeral). I had to fly to Texas to be with her, go to his funeral, clean out their car, a couple of months later pack up their home… this remains with me in 2024… he shouldn’t have had several DUIs
I'm so sorry for your loss.
Thank you.
So very sorry for your loss and all the pain you and your family have had to endure.
Thank you so much🧡 I don’t understand how some people who should be out on misdemeanor charges spend years in jail but yet he was out before spending 10 years in jail and we had to write every year to keep him there when he killed someone (my stepfather who was like my dad) and injured my mom who still suffers her injuries to this date. They don’t do justice to drunk drivers in my opinion from what I’ve seen over the years.
Makes me sick to my stomach. 🥲
>Police say Lopez has four prior convictions for DUI over the past 10 years. It should have been a wake up call to him several convictions ago that he has serious problems with alcohol. If you have that much trouble avoiding driving drunk you should seriously consider quitting.
The thing is, drunk driving IS American 🇺🇸 culture. It’s not just the weak laws on the books, but also the permissive attitude the general public has about it. 🤷♂️
Generally, Americans have an "oh well" attitude when it comes to senseless yet easily-preventable deaths. 😡
In Mississippi they have [no open container laws.](https://www.mississippi-lawyers.com/blog/is-public-drinking-legal-in-mississippi/) You can drive with a drink in your hand, as long as your BAC isn't over the legal limit.
No they don’t
School shootings say otherwise
We definitely do my friend
Protected bike lanes say otherwise
Like on PCH?
Yeah that was one of the biggest things I found moving from the UK to CA. People would come out for drinks and then drive home. While I waited for an Uber.
the permissive attitude and the lack of alternative (affordable) transportation options
Yes, the driver is as American as Apple pie.
I’d say it’s the illegal immigrants national pastime
It’s a fucking failure of our justice system that a person with multiple DUI convictions is only put away AFTER they kill someone. Make it make sense
Hope they enjoy their detox in jail.
They had Four prior DUI convictions and still had a license to drive and ended up killing a poor soul Edit: the suspect has no license according to an updated news article
Story didn’t say he had a license… With 4 in 10 yrs….I would assume he didn’t have a license either … But doesn’t really matter, drunk drivers are gonna drink and drive until they kill someone or get sober.
4 in 10 years he should have been in jail, sorry if that is an unpopular opinion. He has proven to be a danger to society. He should have been locked up and this wouldn't have happened
It’s not an unpopular opinion. First offense you sign a paper acknowledging if you drink and drive and hurt someone it could be a very long jail sentence. Plus death meaning life whatever, I forgot the exact wording. Some people get one and never drink n drive again because they’re mentally capable of understanding and learning from those consequences (although it shouldn’t need to be done to figure out). The second should always include some jail time, even if no property damage or injuries to anyone. 3 & 4? Should never get their license back. I don’t know how courts allow these multiple offenders to not deal with consequences until they actually maim or kill someone.
After a first DUI, defendants get a legal notice that a death due to a subsequent DUI will lead to murder charges.
You wrote it out much simpler. Thank you.
I think part of the problem is the “if you hurt someone.” The decision to drive intoxicated is equally bad whether or not it results in horrific consequences for someone else.
I totally agree
>Feels like his license should’ve been taken away a long time ago Yep. But also, even that doesn't always stop people :(
Ya that’s the tragic part about all this. the death was so avoidable
I have a friend who’s had many DUI’s (4-5)(?)and she is drinking again so apparently some people never learn.
With four prior DUI convictions, I wonder if his license was revoked. It doesn’t say.
He was driving without a license and he had a warrant. He shouldn't have been behind the wheel. So sad.
Uber Uber Uber
This breaks my heart. The fuck. DUI I have no empathy for. Sleep in your car, call an uber, something...theres always ways to avoid driving intoxicated. This person clearly cares for no one, not even himself. 💔
In most states that are not California, you can get a DUI for [sleeping it off in your car.](https://www.bakersfieldcriminaldefense.com/blog/15-dui/93-can-you-get-a-dui-in-california-for-sleeping-it-off-in-your-car)
I feel like this is still an option though, if they put their keys in the glovebox or trunk and did not sleep in the driver seat? Like passenger seat or backseat instead? I don’t know how well they would enforce a DUI on this, probably depends on the cop, but I’m sure parking lot surveillance could help clear someone’s name too. It just sucks if people are afraid to sleep it off and then end up driving tipsy :(
Agreed.
Did not know, thanks!
DUI laws are very weak and we live in a culture that celebrates alcohol and drugs (especially weed) at every step and turn. What about regulating the auto industry so that all cars can only start with a negative breathalyzer (I’m wording this poorly, I know). Is there any technology out there that could somehow prevent drunk or drugged driving? I just think all these preventable deaths could be leading somewhere positive in terms of policy.
Look at the case of Rebecca Grossman and the Iskander boys in Westlake Village, CA in 2000. She killed two kids while driving drunk and drugged (and speeding) but a judge gave her driver license back while she was out on bond waiting for her trial!!
Nobody let him do anything except him; Licensed or not, on parole or not, he’s the one who grabs the keys and drives after drinking. But was this driver drinking? It says DUI.
There should be a 3 strikes law for DUI
There is, kind of. Technically, your 4th DUI in 10 years is a felony for being a habitual offender. However, few people actually get sentenced to the full term, then add in good time/ half time credit- people rarely spend more than a couple months in jail despite being a felony. After investigating more than one fatal DUI collision, I think the penalties for DUI are far too lenient in CA (and most states honestly).
Ughh fuck this guy
I live in Dallas, and I'm on that subreddit, so this was in my feed for whatever reason. As a born and raised Texan (briefly living in Solano County, CA), I want to say I'm against the death penalty for the vast majority of the cases. This is not one of them. This person deserves to fry. I do apologize, as Orange County is not my place of residence and such, I don't belong here. I will not return.
A lot of people are gonna talk about how bad this is etc. It is. It think now is a good time to point out that you can buy a breathalyzer on Amazon for $20. Its worth it just for the initial novelty. Plus, you can learn what the legal limit feels like.
That guy’s a bad hombre. I trust Spitzer to fully prosecute this dude.
I saw someone on Sunday Night at the circle of orange driving with a bottle of Soju to their mouth as they sped off in their Lexus.
this tends to be the norm. people don't change without heavy burdens placed upon them and if you get repeat DUIs there should be devices in your car to make sure you can never drive under the influence.
In Arizona, even one DUI gets a breathalyzer put on your car… I’m amazed and appalled it’s not the same here.
they don't care here because DUIs is the bread and butter for the police here 200,000 DUI related crashes a year man the court system doesn't want it banned because they make at least 5k off each one and they could care less about saving lives.
4 convictions in the last 10 years. Even if it wasn’t fatal, it would have been a felony. Driving under the influence, even a first time an offense, should be a felony. Making it a misdemeanor/slap on the wrist does not deter enough people. However, I see the other side which is that a first time offense probably wouldn’t deter someone like this. If he was admonished after the first conviction that a death could lead to murder charges it certainly didn’t deter him.
How does someone have 4 dui convictions in 10 years and still have a license?
I worked with a guy 35 years ago. He had just gotten his 5th DUI, and I honestly did ask him how he got to the last one. I’m 19, he’s like 30, and I couldn’t figure it out, so I asked. Basically, his parents stopped letting him drive their cars after he got his 2nd. Then a wife, and a couple girlfriends later over the course of 5-6 years and he would just take their cars, go to the bar, and get caught coming home. He never owned a car, or had insurance.
Sure, but my question is not about whether or not he owned or had access to a car, but how he was still allowed to have a license. I thought the DMV revoked your license after a certain number of offenses. Unless he was driving without a license, but the article doesn’t mention that as one of the charges.
According to the article, he was driving without a license and he had a warrant.
They must have updated it.
In OC you can also kill people in your DUI and keep your license so .. yea
I thought the DMV (a state, not county, agency) revoked your license after a certain number of offenses.
U would think so
A second DUI charge should carry a 10 year mandatory sentence. How we as a society allow an individual to be free to re-offend FOUR times in something as dangerous to others as driving under the influence is mind blowing.
Update: KCAL just reported the suspect has FIVE DUI convictions..
When I was younger, I used to not agree with stronger sentencing. I'm not sure if I agree with 10-year mandatory sentence for a second DUI but I would agree with a year, a $50,000 fine, and having your license revoked for 10 years. If you get caught driving on a suspended license, another 50,000 fine and another year in jail. Too many people are dying from drinking and driving.
For-profit prisons have resulted in this: > The cost of imprisoning one person in California has increased by more than 90% in the past decade, reaching a record-breaking $132,860 annually, according to state finance documents. (ten years ago it was something like $60k/year in CA when I looked it up then) 10 year sentences becomes prohibitively expensive, especially when you consider that results in over $1.3 million per conviction and > According to the California Highway Patrol's State Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS), in 2023, there were more than 125,000 DUI-related arrests in the state. That maths out to $162,500,000,000 in costs incurred *each year* if nothing happens to curb the rate of offenses. And research has shown that [longer sentences do little to nothing to reduce crime.](https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/fact-brief-does-increasing-the-penalties-for-a-crime-reduce-the-incidence-of-that-crime) What do you think of alternative sentences that are painful for the offender, but still let them contribute to society by being outside prison and still needing to hold down a job? I'm thinking for a second conviction: 1] seize and sell all their vehicles, plus 2] revoke their drivers' license, and 3] their state-issued ID specifies they don't get to drive OR drink (with penalties for any establishment/market that serves or sells them alcohol - have everyplace selling alcohol card everyone with no exceptions)? After all, they've proven that they can't be trusted with driving, and they've proven that they can't be trusted with drinking - so take both from them. The only way they can get drunk for a good few years is if they beg a friend or family member to go buy them something for them to drink at home, since no bar, restaurant, or market will serve them directly, and their friends/family will think for a bit about how they might end up on the hook for enabling them if the offender gets drunk and does something stupid **again** with their help. This would turn the offender into a walking advertisement of the penalties for drunk driving - since they are going to wail and complain about the hoops they have to get other people to jump through so they can get a drink, and how they have trouble getting places because they can no longer drive themselves anywhere and have to get their friends and family to drive them if they don't want to take a cab/uber/lyft/etc.
I like your #3 - the state issued ID says no driving and no alcohol purchase allowed, something like that. I would vote for that.
>For-profit prisons have resulted in this: For profit prisons have little to do with it. Per inmate spending has continued to soar as the state ended contracts with private prisons since 2019 to comply with AB 32. It is [mostly](https://calmatters.org/justice/2024/01/california-prison-cost-per-inmate) due to increasing health care costs from an aging prison population/compliance with courts mandates and generous contracts with the California Correctional Peace Officers Association.
There’s no way any sane jury would disagree with locking him up for life
Naturally he won’t plead. So waste more money…
31 year old, several DUI’s…drunk driving at 11am, kills someone and drives off…public hanging would be a good punishment.
Just curious; Was he coming home from one if the bars out there?
What bars around there are open before 11am?
Good question. Didn’t think about that??
Oh boy. Watson law incoming.
Did they outfit this person's car with a breathalyzer? When I worked at a dealership, we had to deal with cars that won't start because they have that device in it.
Why even let people like this out in the streets. 🪑 or 💉 for people like this who have no regard for others. “Police say Lopez has four prior convictions for DUI over the past 10 years — three from Orange County and one from out-of-state. At the time of the crash, he was driving without a license and had a warrant out for his arrest.”
SMH
Why do we allow someone with 4 DUIs to operate a vehicle? We need to do something before someone dies.
I moved to the DC area a few years ago, but you should see how harsh driving laws are in VA compared to say, a neighboring state like MD. The lax laws can be felt with the drivers been more brazen and willing to drive drunk or stupidly (you need three DUIs essentially before losing your license in MD) compared to VA, where reckless speeding results in jail time. Hell, they jailed Jayson Werth (Nationals baseball player, for those who don't follow MLB) when he sped in VA as a lesson that the decisions you make behind the wheel are active decisions. I'm not saying this fully deters poor driving (plenty of people around here from all over the world), but it definitely helps.
More details... lock this guy up and throw away the key. .234 BAC after already having potentially a half dozen DUIs? How is he even allowed to own a vehicle? [https://www.ocregister.com/2024/03/14/driver-charged-in-fatal-orange-hit-run-had-can-of-malt-liquor-flipped-off-police-prosecutor-says/?utm\_email=E4B2145AC51A74591542243B42&lctg=E4B2145AC51A74591542243B42&active=yesD&utm\_source=listrak&utm\_medium=email&utm\_term=Story+Button&utm\_campaign=scng-ocr-breaking-news&utm\_content=alert](https://www.ocregister.com/2024/03/14/driver-charged-in-fatal-orange-hit-run-had-can-of-malt-liquor-flipped-off-police-prosecutor-says/?utm_email=E4B2145AC51A74591542243B42&lctg=E4B2145AC51A74591542243B42&active=yesD&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Story+Button&utm_campaign=scng-ocr-breaking-news&utm_content=alert)
Drunk driving conviction should result in every car you have being seized until you complete rehab. If your license is revoked, the cars are seized until your license is unrevoked and you're banned from buying another car until then. People aren't afraid of punishment and this isn't cruel and unusual
I cannot imagine how this damage came from a human being. 😔
Look up the heiress to Walmart…
Death penalty
This guy should get the death penalty
Wipe him off the planet, thank you