CHP to Urge Teen Be Charged in Fatality
The California Highway Patrol will recommend vehicular manslaughter charges be filed against a 17-year-old Moorpark youth who crashed his pickup at high speed into a utility pole on Balcom Canyon Road, killing his passenger, CHP spokesman Officer Dave Cockrill said Tuesday.
Daniel Scott Howell, a 16-year-old Moorpark High School junior, was pronounced dead at the scene at about 2:15 p.m. Monday near Moorpark, coroner officials said. The driver suffered minor injuries. Both boys were wearing seat belts, the CHP said.
The accident may have been caused when the 17-year-old driver, who was not identified because he is a juvenile, was distracted by a dog he and Howell had just picked up at a nearby private kennel, the CHP said. The dog was uninjured, the CHP said.
“The law is pretty cut and dried about what constitutes vehicular manslaughter,” Cockrill said. “There doesn’t have to be an intent to kill.”
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