Woman gets 6 years in fatal DUI crash
A 26-year-old woman was sentenced Friday to six years in state prison after a drunk-driving crash in which she ran into a man and caused him to topple over a freeway guardrail to his death.
Ashley Selina Bryan, 26, pleaded guilty this month to one felony count of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and was also found guilty in December of one felony count of driving under the influence, according to a statement from the Orange County district attorney’s office.
Prosecutors said that shortly before midnight on April 2, 2011, Bryan, a resident of the San Bernardino County city of Highland, was driving north in her Honda Civic on the 57 Freeway in Orange. Prosecutors said she failed to avoid a Chevrolet Camaro that was disabled and had stopped on the right shoulder.
The driver, Logan Vescio, 18, had shifted to the passenger seat, and Cameron Cook, 18, the passenger, was standing outside the vehicle near a guardrail, according to prosecutors.
The force of the crash pushed the Camaro into Cook, knocking him backward over the guardrail. He landed on a concrete embankment below the freeway, prosecutors said.
Cook was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. Vescio had scrapes on his face and knee. Bryan was taken to a hospital for minor cuts and bruises.
Prosecutors said that a little more than two hours after the crash, Bryan had a blood-alcohol level of 0.17%, more than twice the legal limit.
Cook’s parents offered a victim impact statement when Bryan pleaded guilty, saying that the “impact of Cameron’s absence becomes greater as time goes by, as we suffer with the realization that each minute represents a minute that Cameron is not here where he belongs.”
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