Vehicular Manslaughter

Christine Carrillo Their hands covered their mouths. Tears rolled down their faces. Some squeezed their eyes tightly closed and others stared at the ground. They had entered a mortuary preparation room. They stood among dead bodies covered in white sheets, could feel the cold air flowing from the cooler that held them and could smell the chemicals used to prepare them. They had entered a world that represented the fatal realities of drunk driving.

As Newport Beach interim Police Chief Robert Luman said, you probably don’t want to meet Officer Tracy McKenzie while he’s on the job. That’s because McKenzie’s good at what he does — finding impaired drivers. McKenzie, who has been with the department since 1998, was named Tuesday morning as Officer of the Year at the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce’s 39th annual Police Appreciation Breakfast at the Balboa Bay Club & Resort. McKenzie is the department’s designated DUI enforcement officer.

A jury found an Irvine woman guilty Wednesday morning in connection with a 2006 accident that killed a Costa Mesa teacher. Janene Johns, 53, was found guilty of vehicular manslaughter after hitting Candace Tift Aug. 23, 2006 with her Lexus as Tift was riding her bike. Prosecutors said Johns was on a cocktail of prescription drugs Xanax, Ambien sleeping pills and cough medicine when the accident happened. Johns' defense tried to argue that she was so grief-stricken by the death of her husband weeks before the accident that she was in an unconscious state when the accident happened, meaning she was not liable.

A Costa Mesa man was charged with vehicular manslaughter while under the influence of alcohol Friday, two days after police said he hit another man’s car with his Porsche and caused that driver to lose control and smash into a light pole in Newport Beach. Jeffrey Kirby, 51, is charged with contributing to the death of Charles “Mask” Lewis Jr., 45, of Huntington Beach, who died early Wednesday when his 2004 Ferrari Modena got ripped in two after slamming into a light pole on Jamboree Road north of Eastbluff Drive.

A Costa Mesa man, Jose Gustavo Castillo, has been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and three counts of vehicular manslaughter in connection with a multiple-vehicle car crash Friday night, Watch Commander Keith Davis of the Costa Mesa Police Department said. Three Costa Mesa men involved in a multiple-vehicle car crash Friday at 8:48 p.m. were pronounced dead at the scene. All died as a result of the accident, Coroner Larry Esslinger said. The fourth victim, Castillo, is still being treated for critical injuries at Western Medical Center, Davis said.

A Newport Coast woman charged with hitting and killing a bicyclist while driving drunk pleaded not guilty Friday. Danae Marie Miller, 23, was arraigned at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach. She is charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. The Feb. 21 crash killed Amine Britel, 41, a Moroccan immigrant who owned a travel agency in Newport Beach. Police said Miller was drinking at her workplace before driving home that evening. Prosecutors said she was also texting when she drifted into the bike lane on San Joaquin Hills Road and hit Britel from behind.

From a news perspective, the 1990s in Newport-Mesa had it all. Million-dollar embezzlements by officials in a city and a school district. A sexual harassment scandal in the Newport Beach Police Department that took down the chief and his top lieutenant. A hard-fought and highly emotional political campaign over a proposed airport that divided the north and the south. An ongoing environmental story. An international sports star in our backyard. A devastating car crash and its aftermath, including what many called a modern miracle.

A Costa Mesa man accused of killing clothing brand TapouT founder Charles “Mask” Lewis Jr. in a March car crash pleaded not guilty Thursday to a felony charge of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. Jeffrey David Kirby, 51, is charged with vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and faces up to 19 years in prison if convicted for what police said was his role in Lewis’ death during a Newport Beach car crash March 11. Police said Kirby was driving his Porsche next to Lewis’ Ferrari in the early morning hours of March 11 when the two cars collided as they headed south on Jamboree Road near Eastbluff Drive.

A drunk driver from Costa Mesa who killed a pedestrian after losing control of his car in Santa Ana received six years in state prison Friday, according to the Orange County district attorney's office. Beau Richard Cook, 29, had pleaded guilty "to one felony count of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence while intoxicated," according to a news release from the D.A.'s office. Eloisa Aguilar, 57, was killed in the wreck, according to the D.A. The crime took place at 11:24 p.m. Spet.