Suspect Has History of Drunk Driving

On a Sunday night eight years ago, a barely coherent Walter Anthony Romine barreled through red lights at 75 mph, narrowly missing other cars. Three drunk driving convictions later, he did it again this weekend, police say, and killed a 23-year-old woman.

Romine, 52, of Buena Park, remained hospitalized Monday with head injuries from the Sunday evening crash that killed Martha Cecilia Limas and injured her husband and their two children.

The Fullerton couple was on their way home from the christening of their 2-year-old daughter, Vanessa, when their Honda Accord was smashed by Romine’s pickup truck at the intersection of Commonwealth and Highland avenues at 7 p.m., police say.

Martha Limas died on arrival at Martin Luther Hospital in Anaheim. Her husband, Jose Limas, suffered leg, chest and wrist injuries, while the children, Jose Jr., 5, and Vanessa, 2, were treated for minor injuries.

Romine apparently never braked, police said. The impact of the crash, which occurred in front of the Fullerton police station, destroyed the Honda and sent Romine’s truck careening over a curb and into a law office.

The incident was reminiscent of Romine’s arrest in July of 1988, when a police officer saw him speeding through red lights along Ball Road in Anaheim, “just missing collision” with two cars in intersections, court records show.

When Romine was pulled over, he had trouble walking and staggered through a field sobriety test, the officer wrote in his report. When asked what he had been been drinking, Romine answered, “A lot.”

Romine was convicted of those charges and of two more drunk driving incidents in July 1989 and February 1991. He was fined several thousand dollars during his court appearances, repeatedly ordered to attend counseling programs and worked more than 60 days in community service, records show.

At one point, Romine was sentenced to 130 days in the Orange County jail, but it was unclear from the records how much of that sentence was served.

Romine’s driver’s license was suspended several times and, finally, revoked in June 1991. He was then cited on Oct. 12, 1992 for driving with a revoked license, according to state records.

“It’s amazing, really,” said Fullerton Police Sgt. Dave Stanko. “How much before the message gets across? Does somebody have to die?”

At home Monday, Jose Limas was numb with grief and struggling for words to explain to his children why their mother was gone. His voice trembled with anger when asked about the repeat offenses of the man suspected of causing the crash.

“They should put him in jail and not let him out, because he is a big danger to everyone else,” he said. “He should be held responsible. I’m suffering, my children are suffering, and what about him?”

Jose and Martha Limas were in the midst of planning a large church wedding to affirm the court ceremony that married them six years ago. Martha, a warehouse worker, spent last Saturday with her sister, Anna Grande, going over ideas for the ceremony and daydreaming about a planned getaway to the mountains.

The sisters were born in El Salvador and each moved to the United States in their teens. But they had grown especially close in the past two months when they moved into neighboring Fullerton apartments.

“It was our first time together,” a tearful Anna Grande, 21, said. “She was smiling most all of the time.”

Jose Limas said his family is already grappling with medical bills and the costs of his wife’s burial. A cast on his wrist and his calf injuries have made it impossible to return to his job as a landscaper. A trust fund for the family has been set up at St. Pius V Catholic Church in Buena Park.

Reidel Post, executive director of the Orange County branch of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said the tragedy highlights the need to examine ways of dealing with repeat offenders.

Cases involving such prior convictions are not that unusual, she said.

“The system has not worked for them, and we need to take a hard-nosed look at the those hard nuts to crack and figure out what are we going to do to protect the innocent,” Post said. “That’s our responsibility as a community.”

By law, anyone arrested within seven years of a drunk driving conviction faces a stiffer punishment because of the prior case.

One reform proposal would lengthen the seven-year prior period to 10 years, she said. Sometimes jail is what “wakens people up,” she said.

Romine is expected to face drunk driving and vehicular manslaughter charges.