OXNARD : Driver Sentenced to CYA in Fatal Crash

A Northridge man was sentenced Friday to two years with the California Youth Authority for causing an alcohol-related crash that killed his companion and left a 4-year-old Oxnard boy with spinal injuries.

David J. White, 21, pleaded guilty in July to vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence in the death of Brett Lerche, 22, of Van Nuys. White also admitted fleeing from the scene of an accident.

Ventura County Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Charles R. Roberts Sr. gave this account of the accident:

On April 25, White and several friends drank beer at Point Mugu, then headed south on the Pacific Coast Highway in a three-car caravan. White began to pass one of the cars but collided head on with a car carrying four members of the Philip Marquez family of Oxnard.

Lerche, a passenger in the back seat of White’s car, was killed instantly and all of the Marquezes were seriously injured. Philip Marquez Jr., 4, is undergoing physical therapy for a spinal cord injury and may eventually be able to walk with crutches, Roberts said.

White, who suffered a broken arm, disappeared for 12 hours after the crash but insisted he was not drunk, Roberts said. Friends told investigators that he had drunk four to six beers.

Roberts asked Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. to sentence White to state prison, but Campbell granted Deputy Public Defender Todd R. Howeth’s request for a Youth Authority commitment.

Campbell denied White’s request to stay out of custody a few more days. Howeth said White wanted to mark his dead friend’s birthday by placing flowers on his grave.