Despite appeals from the family of a 34-year-old man killed in a collision two years ago in Fountain Valley, an Orange County Superior Court judge Friday dismissed a hit-and-run case against the driver, who was convicted of misdemeanor manslaughter in September.
David Stephen Kennedy II, 60, of Huntington Beach, was sentenced to a year in jail and given credit for 204 days behind bars by Orange County Superior Court Judge Lance Jensen, who dismissed a more serious charge of felony hit-and-run with permanent and serious injury.
Kennedy was convicted of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter in the Sept. 11, 2021, collision that killed Long Ta of Santa Ana. But jurors deadlocked 7-5 for acquittal on a felony count of hit-and-run with permanent injury.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert Knox, who presided over the manslaughter trial, previously rejected a motion to dismiss the hit-and-run case. But the case was later reassigned to Jensen.
The victim’s sister, Nga Arasato, told City News Service that her family appealed to Jensen to not dismiss the hit-and-run charge.
“It will not give us closure,” she said Thursday. “It’s going to haunt us, I think, forever — like we didn’t do enough. I feel like if it was me, my brother would have fought for justice. His death is worth more than a year in jail.”
She said her brother “was such a good person. He was always there for us. He was like my go-to.”
She added that he had a knack for “making my daughters laugh. he was the man in their life who lifted us up and made us feel that everything would be OK.”
She said that while she was “very close” to her brother, he had that effect on everyone.
“He made everybody feel that way,” she said.
Ta was headed home from a morning jog when he was killed, she said.
The collision happened about 6:20 a.m. at Edinger Avenue and Ward Street. Ta was walking north across Edinger in a crosswalk with a green light when he was struck by the van Kennedy was driving, prosecutors said.
Ta died from his head injuries Sept. 13, 2021.
One witness saw the victim “tumble in the air and land in the eastbound left turn lane face down,” prosecutors said in a trial brief.
Authorities recovered surveillance video from a nearby Albertson’s store showing the defendant inspect the front of his van before walking into the store, prosecutors said.
One witness told police he saw the driver pause for a moment before speeding away, prosecutors said.
Police spotted a suspect vehicle on Sept. 15 in the parking lot of Fountain Bowl, 17110 Brookhurst St., and when they questioned Kennedy, he said he thought he struck a rubber bumper cushion, prosecutors said. The victim’s DNA was on debris from the vehicle that was recovered at the scene of the collision, prosecutors said.
The van had a “broken windshield, a damaged driver-side front fender, and a broken driver-side marker/turn signal,” prosecutors said. When police questioned Kennedy he “had slurred speech and the odor of al alcoholic beverage emitting from his person,” prosecutors said.
Kennedy told police that it was dark when he collided with the victim and thought he struck “road garbage,” prosecutors said.
Prosecutors argued in a motion objecting to the dismissal of the hit-and-run case that Knox presided “over four days of testimony and heard from all 12 witnesses. He determined the present state of the evidence warranted a retrial.”
Prosecutors added that since the trial “the state of the evidence has not materially changed nor have the issues presented become less triable. While this court may consider transcripts and other court filings, those sources pale in comparison to information available to a trial court… In this case, jurors will be asked to evaluate the credibility of the defendant as he explains a series of illogical, even counterintuitive behavior immediately following a collision which resulted in the death of Long Ta. For example, while facing a broken windshield after his collision in a crosswalk, the defendant did not stop, pull over, or investigate.”