People v. Romero CA4/3

STATEMENT OF FACTS

In the early morning hours of March 30, 2019, defendant was involved in a physical altercation with several other men in a parking garage near Hurricane’s Bar in Huntington Beach. During the fight, defendant got hit on the head several times and fell face-first onto the pavement. But when the police arrived in the wake of the fracas, he did not have any visible injuries. It was apparent that defendant had been drinking, though. Asked how he planned on getting home, defendant told one officer he was going to take an Uber, and he told another officer his sister was coming to pick him up. He then walked toward a stairway that leads to the parking garage pickup area. However, when a bystander asked defendant if he was going to be driving home himself, he nodded in the affirmative. He then walked to his car, fired up the engine, and drove out of the parking garage. About 10 minutes later, defendant struck and killed a man who was riding his bike near the intersection of Beach and Adams. Although the impact of the collision was severe, defendant kept driving for another half mile before crashing his car into a tree. He then walked back to Hurricane’s and began…