Marine Charged in Deaths of 2 on Cycle
A Marine Corps sergeant, already on probation for driving while intoxicated, was charged Wednesday with the deaths of two Logan Heights teen-agers over the Labor Day weekend.
Leighton Cullars, 30, faces two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, one count of hit and run with deception and one count of driving while intoxicated. Municipal Judge Charles L. Patrick set bail Wednesday at $100,000.
Cullars is accused of killing 19-year-old Genaro Diaz Jr. and 15-year-old Mayra Cendejas late Saturday when his car struck their motorcycle head-on. The teen-agers were traveling north on 30th Street as Cullars’ car was heading south toward the westbound ramp of California 94.
Prosecutor F. Robert Hammes said Cullars then went left of the center line to enter the highway, struck the motorcycle and kept on going.
“He at no time ever attempted to render any aid to these people,” Hammes said.
Hammes told the judge that Cullars stopped only after his girlfriend, who was also in the car, urged him to.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 22.
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