Gross vehicular manslaughter and other charges were filed Friday against a 38-year-old Norwalk man accused in an alcohol-fueled collision that killed a pedestrian.
Moises Lopez Santiago was also charged with driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury and driving under the influence with a blood-alcohol level exceeding .08% or more causing injury, both felonies, in addition to a misdemeanor count of driving without a valid driver’s license.
Lopez Santiago, who’s being held on $1 million bail, was scheduled to be arraigned sometime Friday in the jail courtroom in Santa Ana.
Officers who responded to the intersection of Harbor Boulevard and Katella Avenue about 1:15 a.m. Wednesday found the victim, who was wearing a security guard uniform, down in a marked crosswalk. Thhe suspect’s vehicle, a white Astro van, was located about a block away, crashed head-on into a palm tree in front of the Islander Inn and Suites at 424 W. Katella Ave., said Anaheim police Sgt. Jacob Gallacher.
He said the suspect was taken to a hospital for treatment of what were described as serious injuries.
Investigators were withholding the victim’s name pending family notification. He was in his 50s and is believed to have lived in Orange.
The suspect drove through a red light before striking the victim, who was walking southbound in a crosswalk on Harbor and was “thrown quite a distance,” Gallacher said.