Trial begins in case of alleged drunk driver who fatally struck a bicyclist in Huntington Beach in 2019

Prosecutors alleged during the first day of his trial Wednesday that a man previously convicted of DUI chose to drive drunk again when his BMW struck and killed a pedestrian in Huntington Beach three years ago. His attorney, however, maintained he had suffered a concussion during a fight that impacted his ability to make decisions.

Victor Manuel Romero, 28, faces felony counts of murder and hit-and-run in connection with a crash that left then-33-year-old Raymond MacDonald dead on March 30, 2019. The collision was one of three the defendant was involved in before dawn that morning, Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Janine Madera told jurors during opening statements.

The defendant had been drinking that evening and was in a fight in the parking lot of Hurricanes, a bar and grill at 200 Main St., his public defender, Madeline Berkley, and Madera said. Footage taken from social media and presented in court showed Romero getting knocked down, then repeatedly punched and elbowed in the head by a man mounted over him on the ground.

“Boom,” Berkley said, each time a strike landed as the video played. “He’s trying to protect himself. Nevertheless, blows keep landing.”

The footage showed only a small portion of the fight, Berkley said.

Witnesses to the altercation flagged down police. Romero was the only person who had been involved in it who was still there when they arrived.

When questioned, he said he was going to hail a ridesharing service, then told another officer minutes later that he would call his sister to pick him up, Berkley and Madera said. But instead, he walked back to the parking lot to get into his car.

Romero’s BMW struck a black Cadillac that belonged to the owner of Hurricanes as he pulled out of his parking spot, Madera said. Then at about 2:10 a.m., surveillance footage showed his luxury sports sedan running a red light and slamming into MacDonald as he was riding his bicycle at Beach Boulevard and Adams Avenue.

An Uber driver who was stopped at the intersection, David Vevia, told investigators his car shook as the defendant’s BMW sped past him, Madera said. The witness got out of his car to check on the bicyclist, but he was already dead.

The BMW continued west until it crashed head-on with a tree at Lake Street. A homeowner’s doorbell camera captured footage of the car going through a red light moments before the crash, then what appeared to be its driver running away from the scene.

Police found a trail of blood droplets that began at the totaled sedan’s driver side door and continued in the direction of Hurricanes, near where Romero was found seated at a fountain, visibly injured. Keys to a BMW were hanging from a lanyard around his neck.

The defendant denied driving that evening and insisted that his car was still in the parking lot. But Huntington Beach Police Officer Arthur Villa testified that Romero’s vehicle wasn’t found in the lot at the time, and his keys were able to unlock the one that crashed into a tree.

Berkley claimed her client suffered a concussion that may have been the reason he gave conflicting statements to police and witnesses at the scene. She noted that, under normal circumstances, he would call an Uber driver or his sister for a ride home like he told police he was going to do after the fight. She said that by then, Romero was “no longer present.”

“Why does someone make a choice they otherwise wouldn’t?” she asked jurors rhetorically. “Is it because the neurons in your head aren’t connecting? ... Because your brain has been shaken?”

Madera pointed out that Romero had pleaded guilty to driving under the influence in 2012. He was warned at that time of the danger such behavior posed to himself and the public and that he could be charged with murder following that conviction if he was later found to be intoxicated during a fatal crash.

Romero did recall those admonitions, as well as the months of court-ordered classes and thousands of dollars in fees associated with his prior conviction. But in conversations with police in a hospital following his arrest in connection with MacDonald’s death, he was more concerned about the fight earlier that morning.

“I got slept,” he repeated over and over during an interview following the crash, using a slang term for being knocked unconscious, Madera said.

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