Last Updated on December 14, 2021 by CCAR Staff
A 27-year-old Pomona driver has been arrested and charged in connection to an alleged drunken, hit-and-run collision in Anaheim that left three men dead in May.
Cynthia Lizbeth Ayala is facing a half-dozen felony charges, including gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and hit-and-run with permanent and serious injury — she is accused of causing the early morning two-vehicle crash on Brookhurst Street on May 4.
A warrant for Ayala’s arrest was issued on Friday, Dec. 10, court records show. She appeared in court on Monday morning, records show, but did not enter a plea.
According to police, Ayala was driving a Mercedes-Benz northbound on Brookhurst around 3 a.m., between Broadway and Orange Avenue, when she struck a Kia Soul driven by Alexander Smiller that was making a turn onto the street from a parking lot.
The Mercedes reportedly struck the front, left bumper of the Kia, causing major front-end damage to both vehicles.
Another driver, who police described as a good Samaritan, took Ayala and her passenger to a hospital after the crash, according to police.
The crash was investigated for several months as police worked to determine who was at fault, and the circumstances behind Ayala and her passenger leaving the scene before officers arrived.
The Mercedes would normally have the right-of-way if the driver was traveling on the street and the other vehicle was turning onto the roadway, police said shortly after the crash.
In a surveillance video obtained by NBC Los Angeles, the Kia pulls into the street, pauses and then gets slammed into at the side to the front. It is unclear if the Mercedes changed lanes just before the collision.
The general speed the Mercedes was traveling, among other factors, needed to be determined in order to figure out which driver was at fault.
According to her criminal complaint, Ayala allegedly had a blood-alcohol content of 0.218 at the time of the fatal crash, more than double the limit for driving. The complaint also cites “unsafe speed and inattention” as factors in the crash.
As of Tuesday, Dec. 14, she was in custody with a $100,000 bail amount.
