The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed three felony charges against a man accused of driving under the influence in a fatal March 1 crash in Newhall.
Sean Alexander O’Donnell, 44, of San Fernando, was arrested March 1 shortly after the crash, according to L.A. County Sheriff’s Department arrest records available online.
The three counts O’Donnell faces are connected to a crash that happened shortly after midnight near the intersection of Railroad Avenue and Market Street: gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, a DUI that caused injury and driving with a blood-alcohol content above .08, which is the legal limit for drivers aged 21 years and older.
The crash resulted in the death of Sean Brown, a 56-year-old who also was from the San Fernando Valley. Deputies did not confirm how the two might have known each other.
Deputies who responded said their initial suspicion was that the single-vehicle collision was a DUI crash involving two people in the car, according to Sgt. Johnny Gillespie with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.
Deputies initially reported O’Donnell and Brown were traveling on Railroad Avenue at a high rate of speed when the car collided with an electrical pole at the intersection, according to Deputy Robert Jensen, spokesman for the SCV Sheriff’s Station.
Jensen said that, after the car collided with the pole, it continued down the street before coming to a stop at 6th Street.
The three felony charges included L.A. County Rules of Court violations that could add a three-year sentence enhancement to each allegation if O’Donnell is convicted as charged.
“It is further alleged as to counts 1, 2 and 3 that the defendant, Sean Alexander O’Donnell, has suffered prior convictions as an adult and sustained petitions in juvenile delinquency proceedings that are numerous and of increasing seriousness, within the meaning of California Rules of Court Rule 4.421 (b)(2),” according to a criminal complaint filed March 4.
Court records available online at the L.A. County Superior Court website did not have any information regarding past charges for O’Donnell.
While O’Donnell was identified as the suspect in the incident on March 1, deputies indicated he was receiving medical treatment for significant injuries shortly after the crash. The extent of those injuries was not known as of this story’s publication, and SCV Sheriff’s Station officials were not immediately available to comment. He was officially booked at the station on Saturday, per custody records available online.
Court records indicate the proceedings against O’Donnell have been continued several times during the last two weeks and he is expected to answer the charges Tuesday when he is scheduled to file a plea at his preliminary arraignment.
Earlier this month in a crime that had similar circumstances, a Long Beach man pleaded no contest to one count of gross vehicular manslaughter in the death of his friend and received a four-year prison sentence after several emotional victim impact statements were given in court.
