People v. Scarpa CA4/3

FACTS

Around 8:00 a.m. on November 3, 2018, Michael Kreza was riding his bicycle on the sidewalk along Alicia Parkway in Mission Viejo. He was on his way to his daughter’s soccer game when appellant’s van veered off the roadway and plowed into him from behind. The force of the collision crushed Kreza’s body and catapulted him into the street. A bystander called 911, and an ambulance was summoned, but Kreza sustained multiple injuries and died two days later. When the police contacted appellant at the scene, he was sitting on the curb next to his van near the collision site. Fidgety and anxious, he was under the impression he had run into a group of people, not just one person. He said he was returning home from a party in Westminster and should not have been driving because he was upset. While he implied his angry mindset was the reason he crashed, drug use quickly surfaced as the likely impetus. In response to questioning, appellant said he had taken methamphetamine and Suboxone, a narcotic analgesic akin to morphine, at the party. Although his general

2 mental awareness seemed intact, he showed physical signs of impairment and was unable to perform several of the balance and…