Authorities charged a Pomona man Friday with murder after prosecutors alleged that a night of drinking that started in Newport Beach ended with a fatal head-on collision on a freeway in Anaheim.
Ruben Gurrola, 23, is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Orange County's Central Jail in Santa Ana for murder, driving under the influence causing great bodily injury, and driving with a blood-alcohol content above the .08 legal limit.
He faces up to 19 years to life in prison, if convicted on all charges. He is being held in lieu of $1-million bail.
Prosecutors said Gurrola was drinking for several hours at a Newport bar Jan. 28 with his friends and girlfriend before taking a cab inland to a friend's house.
Gurrola is accused of getting behind the wheel of a Honda sedan with his girlfriend and leaving the house about 1:40 a.m., then heading north in the southbound lanes of the 241 toll road, where he narrowly missed other drivers, who called 911.
