LAKEPORT — The Lake County District Attorney”s Office elevated a Kelseyville man”s charge from gross vehicular manslaughter to second-degree murder in the alleged reckless driving death of a woman in a September crash.
The charge was elevated because of Alejandro Arias” “reckless indifference to the unjustifiably high risk of danger to human life” he showed with his record, the office reported.
A Lake County Sheriff deputy stopped and warned Arias, 28, about 10 minutes before the crash for speeding on Highway 20 in front of Robinson Rancheria Resort & Casino in Nice, said John Langan, senior deputy district attorney prosecuting the case.
Officers arrested Arias Wednesday.
Arias allegedly drove through a red light about 100 mph Sept. 11 on Highway 29 at Highway 175 Hopland near Lakeport, crashed into Charlane Hill”s car, killing her and severely injuring her two passengers, California Highway Patrol reported. Hill was 41.
CHP officers arrested Arias that night, but because he went to the hospital and law enforcement officers were continuing their investigation, Arias wasn”t taken into custody at the Lake County Jail until Wednesday, Langan said. Arias has a $500,000-bail.
Arias will be arraigned 9 a.m. today on the charges, including second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter, three counts of reckless driving causing great bodily injury and three special allegations of causing great bodily injury. The charges and allegations carry a sentence of 21 years to life in prison.
About 9:45 p.m. Sept. 11, Arias was driving fast on Highway 29 at Highway 175 Hopland, CHP officer Steve Tanguay said. Witnesses reported Arias drove through a red stoplight, lost control of his 1997 Ford Mustang, crossed into Hill”s northbound lane and hit the 1994 Buick Regal she was driving, Tanguay said.
Both vehicles spun around and came to a stop facing the opposite way they were headed, with the Buick partially blocking both lanes, CHP reported.
Fire crews used the Jaws of Life to remove four people from the cars, Tanguay said. The Lake County Sheriff”s Coroner pronounced Hill dead at the scene.
Officers described the scene as “horrific,” Tanguay said.
Hill”s right-front passenger, Maria Holt, 40, of Clearlake, was air transported to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with major injuries. REACH air ambulance took Charlane Hill”s 10-year-old niece Elizabeth Hill, who was in the back seat, to Children”s Hospital and Research Center in Oakland with major injuries.
Law enforcement officers are still investigating whether Arias was intoxicated at the time, Langan said. After the District Attorney”s Office reviewed Arias” extensive driving record with violations in California and Oregon and evidence that showed Arias personally modified and raced this Mustang in the past, the office charged that Arias displayed a reckless indifference to the unjustifiably high risk of danger to human life.
“This conscious disregard for the obvious danger to human life is called ?implied malice,” and elevates the crime that caused the death of Ms. Hill to second-degree murder,” Langan said in a press release.
Contact Katy Sweeny at kdsweeny@gmail.com or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
