Minimum sentence for 24-year-old in drunken hit-and-run death

A 24-year-old woman was sentenced Friday to more than six years in state prison for driving drunk and killing a pedestrian in Westminster, then fleeing the scene.

Tonez Hunter Seja of Buena Park pleaded guilty July 2 to vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated without gross negligence, and hit-and-run with permanent and serious injury. She also admitted to a sentencing-enhancing allegation of fleeing the scene of an accident.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard King gave Seja the minimum sentence of six years and four months. The maximum sentence was nine years in prison.

“It was a sad case for everybody involved,” Deputy District Attorney Stephen Cornwell said.

Seja was driving north on Beach Boulevard about 1 a.m. April 24 when she struck 58-year-old Gerrel Bauer with her vehicle near Bishop Place, according to Cornwell.

Seja kept driving, but a witness called 911 and followed her. Police tracked down the suspect at the intersection of Beach and Westminster boulevards as her vehicle was idling at a red light, Cornwell said.

Seja’s blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.15 percent, almost twice the legal limit, Cornwell said.

Bauer was taken to an area hospital, where he died June 4, and charges against Seja were upgraded.

Seja made an open plea, meaning there was no guarantee on what punishment she faced.

— City News Service