Last Updated on January 6, 2017 by CCAR Staff
LOS ANGELES >> A California Highway Patrol officer asked medical personnel to draw blood samples of a Fontana woman accused of killing six people in a 2014 wrong-way DUI crash on the 60 Freeway in Diamond Bar after learning she would soon be undergoing surgery, he testified in court Friday.
Defense attorneys are trying to convince a judge the blood evidence should not be part of the state’s case against Olivia Carolee Culbreath, who’s facing six counts of murder.
The motion to suppress the blood evidence continues next week.
In court on Friday, CHP Officer David Crislip, the officer in charge of the crash investigation, said following the collision, he went to the hospital where Culbreath was being treated. After speaking with a nurse, who described surgery as imminent, he ordered a blood sample be taken to aid in the investigation.
“Did you feel you had enough time to get a (search) warrant?” Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Elizabeth Padilla asked Crislip.
“Absolutely not,” he responded.
Crislip’s testimony came more than a year after Culbreath’s lawyers filed a motion seeking to suppress her blood samples and their analysis. They argue it should be thrown out because the unconscious suspect couldn’t give consent and the CHP failed to get a required warrant.
Prosecutors accuse Culbreath of driving a Chevrolet Camaro east on the westbound 60 Freeway at about 4:45 a.m Feb. 9, 2014 at speeds near 100 mph. The Camaro crashed head-on into a sport utility vehicle, then another vehicle subsequently crashed into the SUV, the CHP said at the time.
Six people died in the crash, two in Culbreath’s car: Culbreath’s sister, Maya, 24, of Rialto and Chino resident Kristin Melissa Young, 21.
Four Huntington Park residents — Gregorio Mejia-Martinez, 47; Leticia Ibarra, 42; Jessica Jasmine Mejia, 20; and Ester Delgado, 80 — were traveling in the SUV. All four were thrown from the vehicle and died.
At the time, Crislip was responsible for patrolling the 60 Freeway from Grand Avenue to Reservoir Avenue and parts of the 57 and 71 freeways.
After booking a suspect, Crislip testified, he headed to the crash scene. Upon arrival,Crislip said he found numerous officers, firefighters, ambulances, tow trucks and others at the scene where the bodies of the some of the deceased victims remained on the roadway.
In the course of his investigation, he spotted an open container of alcohol in a Chevrolet Camero , which smelled of alcohol, he testified.
A woman was in the right front seat and appeared to be wedged in the car’s floorboard, Crislip said. Another woman was lying across the back seat of the car.
The officer testified he arrived at the scene at about 5:50 a.m. and was there for about an hour before heading to the hospital. He arrived about 7:28 a.m. and found Culbreath undergoing a computer tomography scan, or CT scan. Crislip said he stood about 2 feet away.
“I smelled an odor of alcoholic beverage emanating from her,” he said.
The number of doctors and nurses tending to Culbreath indicated she was seriously injured, Crislip said, and he believed it was necessary to draw blood samples before she was taken to surgery.
Securing a warrant would have required a number steps, including writing up the document, having all the facts of the case, having it signed by a supervisor and then taking to a judge, he said. That would have taken more than an hour.
During cross-examination Culbreath attorney Robert Sheahen asked Crislip: “Did you advise Ms. Culbreath she was under arrest?’
“Yes,” Crislip replied.
Sheahen said Crislip had testified Culbreath was unconscious.
Crislip said she was, but doctors, nurses and others were also in the room.
Fellow CHP Officer Scott Marsden testified briefly before the day’s proceedings concluded.
The hearing on the matter will continue Jan. 13. Then, attorneys will be back in court Feb. 8, when medical personnel involved in the collection of the blood samples are expected to testify.
Prosecutor Padilla said outside of court that schedule conflicts and witness availability delayed the hearing.
After the hearing, Sheahen said that Culbreath’s child, who was 11 days old when the crash occurred, is approaching his third birthday. Although the child is brought to her for weekly visits,she hasn’t had physical contact with him since the crash, he said.
“It’s just overwhelmingly sad,” he said.
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