Local News in Brief : Driver Pleads Innocent in Crash That Killed 3

A man accused of driving drunk and causing a holiday crash that killed three people and injured two children pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and seven other felony charges.

Aram Barsumyan, 30, of Los Angeles, entered his plea Friday before Glendale Municipal Court Commissioner Joseph F. De Vanon. He is being held in Los Angeles County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Barsumyan was arrested Dec. 19 after his car, traveling along Los Feliz Road, hit a dip and crashed into an oncoming vehicle carrying a family on a holiday shopping trip.

Killed in the crash were Azusa residents Francisco Cruz, 42, Olga Yolanda Cruz, 31, and Olga’s sister, Maria Hernandez, 33, of Los Angeles. The Cruzes’ two children were injured in the crash.

Barsumyan is also charged with three counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, and four counts of felony drunk driving causing bodily injury.