MADD Chapter Leader Injured : Suspect in Car Crash Jailed 3 Times Before

A Costa Mesa man, arrested after a collision that injured a chapter president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, had been convicted three times for drunk driving, police said Wednesday.

Dane Heftved, 26, was arrested on suspicion of felony drunk driving Sunday and released on his own recognizance after the Costa Mesa accident in which six people were injured, including Laurie McCarthy of Huntington Beach, president of the Orange County chapter of MADD.

Records of the Costa Mesa Police Department show that Heftved was convicted twice in 1981 and once in 1983 for misdemeanor drunk driving. A 1982 drunk-driving arrest later resulted in a conviction for reckless driving, Costa Mesa Sgt. Alan Kent said.

Heftved served jail time for all three drunk-driving convictions, which were handed down by Orange County courts, Kent said. The Department of Motor Vehicles, which keeps records of drunk-driving convictions for five years, confirmed Heftved’s 1982 and 1983 convictions.

Under California law, the minimum sentence for a third drunk-driving conviction within five years is 180 days in county jail, a $390 fine and loss of license for three years. The maximum penalty is one year in county jail, $1,000 in fines, and loss of license for three years.

Heftved, whose convictions spanned more than five years, has a valid driver’s license, police said. He was released without bail pending results of a blood alcohol test.

McCarthy, her husband, William, 42, and two friends in a Volkswagen van were returning from dinner when the Dodge sedan driven by Heftved struck them from behind, police said. Both vehicles were northbound on Placentia Avenue south of Hamilton Street, police said.

The van, driven by Charles W. Hahne, 41, of Huntington Beach, was traveling about 40 m.p.h. when the sedan, moving at 50 to 60 m.p.h., collided with it, police said. The speed limit is 40 m.p.h., police said.

The van continued for another 500 feet before Hahne, whose seat became dislodged, was able to brake. All four people in the van, including Hahne’s wife, Diane, 38, suffered minor injuries. Heftved and his passenger, Michael J. Detrich of Costa Mesa, also were injured slightly.

The six, who complained of bruises and neck and back pains, were treated at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach and released.

McCarthy, 41, said she became chapter president of MADD in July after being a member for about three years, serving mostly as a court monitor. She said she and her husband joined because they were concerned about drunk driving.

Heftved’s record, she said, “doesn’t surprise me, from what I know about drunk driving.”

McCarthy said she is feeling better since the weekend accident but will take several days off from her duties as chapter president while she recuperates.

“I know of a lot worse (accidents) than this,” she said. “This is nothing compared to others.”

But, she said, “our laws need to be changed. . . . No one is immune, no one.”