Anaheim : 90-Day Term Imposed in Crash That Killed Three

A 55-year-old Los Angeles man who said a diabetic seizure caused him to drive the wrong way on Interstate 15 last year and crash into an oncoming car, killing an off-duty Anaheim police officer and two children, will serve 90 days in Riverside County Jail for vehicular manslaughter.

Sgt. Roy C. Records, 54, and his granddaughters Tina, 3, and Teresa LaFlower, 5, died in the crash.

John Washington admitted that he didn’t eat after taking insulin on April 14, 1984, which brought on his seizure. Riverside Superior Court Judge Howard Dabney also sentenced him to three years probation in the case, which included a misdemeanor charge of leaving the scene of an accident. Washington struck a post in a Lake Elsinore gas station before driving onto the freeway off-ramp, striking two other cars before the fatal crash.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Danuta Tuszynska argued for a longer jail sentence, although she stressed that she didn’t feel a state prison sentence would be appropriate. “Given the defendant’s age and his background--this was his first offense--we argued for a sentence of 12 to 18 months in county jail,” she said.

Washington, who pleaded guilty two months ago to the three manslaughter charges, received cuts and bruises. His attorney, Bernard Schulhoff, said he felt the sentencing was fair.