Anaheim woman arrested for 2024 crash that killed 67-year-old man
The deadly hit-and-run collision happened on May 9, 2024, near the intersection of Culver Drive and Trabuco Road. The Irvine Police Department said the 67-year-old victim, Allen Yangkaou Lee, drove through the intersection when another car, a Honda Civic with distinct racing-style decals, made a right turn against a red light in front of him.
Lee swerved to avoid the driver but lost control of his 2004 Toyota Corolla and crashed into the center median before slamming into a tree and a light pole.
"Our dad is gone," daughter Elaine Lee. "My kids won't have a grandfather."
Lee's family said he was coming home after a weekly lunch with friends.
Irvine detectives called this a no-contact, hit-and-run crash since the driver, 24-year-old Francis Guadalupe Tercero-Benavides, failed to stop.
Detectives found Tercero-Benavides' car six days after the deadly crash but struggled to locate her because she frequently moved, according to Irvine PD.
More than a year after the collision, police finally found Tercero-Benavides and arrested her for vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run charges.
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New York Times
34 minutes ago
- New York Times
Trump Administration Live Updates: President to Sign Sweeping Domestic Policy Bill Into Law
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Lawyers for the eight men rushed back to the trial judge, who blocked their removal again. The administration then asked the justices to clarify that last month's order properly applied to the men, too. Thursday's Supreme Court order, which was unsigned but included two pages of reasoning, said that it did. In dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, said the ruling could have grave consequences. 'What the government wants to do, concretely,' Justice Sotomayor wrote, 'is send the eight noncitizens it illegally removed from the United States from Djibouti to South Sudan, where they will be turned over to the local authorities without regard for the likelihood that they will face torture or death.' In May, the government loaded eight men onto a plane said to be headed to South Sudan, a violence-plagued African country where only one held citizenship. After Judge Brian E. Murphy of the U.S. District Court in Boston intervened, their flight landed instead in the East African nation of Djibouti. The men, who have all been convicted of serious crimes in the United States, have been detained at Camp Lemonnier, a military base, ever since. They spend almost all their time inside a modular, air-conditioned container that the military usually uses as a conference room, according to court filings. Under constant guard, they wear shackles around their ankles, except when showering, using the bathroom or meeting remotely with their lawyers, a member of their legal team has said. Before coming to the United States, they hailed from Vietnam, South Korea, Mexico, Laos, Cuba and Myanmar. Just one is from South Sudan. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, welcomed Thursday's ruling. 'These sickos will be in South Sudan by Independence Day,' she said. Trina Realmuto, a lawyer for the migrants, said the ruling comes 'at the expense of the lives of eight men who are now subject to immediate removal to a war-torn country to which they have no ties.' In a court filing last month, the administration said it had received 'credible diplomatic assurances' from the government of South Sudan that the men would not be tortured. But Ms. Realmuto said she had no direct knowledge of those assurances and did not know what the South Sudanese government in Juba intended to do with the men after they landed. In a filing by the migrants' lawyers, an expert on South Sudan said it was likely that the men would by detained by the country's security forces and then experience 'torture, or conditions that amount to torture,' at their hands. The court's first involvement with the case came last month, when the justices first paused Judge Murphy's ruling that all migrants whom the government seeks to deport to countries other than their own must first be given a chance to show that they would face risk of torture. Within hours, lawyers for the eight men returned to Judge Murphy, asking him to continue blocking the deportations of the group. Judge Murphy, who was appointed by President Joseph R. Biden Jr., denied the motion as unnecessary. He said he had issued a separate ruling last month, different from the one the Supreme Court had paused, protecting the men in Djibouti from immediate removal. He added that Justice Sotomayor had made the same point in her dissent from the ruling, which Justices Kagan and Jackson joined. 'The district court's remedial orders are not properly before this court because the government has not appealed them,' she wrote. 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CNN
35 minutes ago
- CNN
What it was like inside the courtroom during the Sean ‘Diddy' Combs trial
Sean 'Diddy' Combs dropped to his knees, placed his hands together, and bowed his head moments after the jury found him not guilty of the most serious criminal charges he faced, giving him a second chance at life. He also turned to the jury box with his palms in the prayer-like position and nodded his head in gratitude to the 12 for their decision. As the hip-hop mogul was led out of the courtroom on the 26th floor of the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan, two rows filled with supporters including his mother, sister, six adult children and friends erupted into applause. The verdict was a rejection of the prosecution's theory: that Combs ran a corrupt criminal enterprise designed to promote him and his sexual desires, including drugging women, physically abusing them and forcing them to have sex with male prostitutes. Combs was convicted of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, felonies with maximum sentences of 10 years each in prison. 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When informing the judge of his decision, he used it as an opportunity to tell the judge he was doing an 'excellent' job. Over nine weeks a rhythm developed. Members of the media, public and social media streamers lined up outside of the courthouse in heavy rain, cold winds, and steamy temperatures to gain one of the limited seats inside the courtroom. Members of Combs family arrived in black sprinter vans and took their seats in the family section. Court security officers kept order, reminding everyone that talking was not allowed when court was in session. Each morning Combs, his hair now gray, was led by US Marshals into the courtroom wearing a rotation of crew neck sweaters in shades of blue, gray and cream. He always looked for his family, flashed them a smile, a tap on the chest, or blew them a kiss. Judge Arun Subramanian, an energetic erudite judge, set a tight schedule – the trial day started at 9 a.m. and ended at 3 p.m. most days. 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Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Man allegedly threatens cops, judge after making mess in Kalispell park
Jul. 4—Confronted for making a mess in a Kalispell public park in mid-June, a man sought sanctuary in a nearby bar before allegedly threatening police officers and a municipal judge. Prosecutors brought Jeremy Allen Higgins, 47, up on a slew of charges in Flathead County District Court following his June 12 run-in with Kalispell Police officers at Woodland Park. He is expected to appear before Judge Paul Sullivan on July 17 for his arraignment on a felony count of threats in official matters and misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct, criminal trespass, obstructing a peace officer and criminal possession of drug paraphernalia. Officers summoned to the park about 9:30 p.m. for a man allegedly yelling at a woman and throwing trash around met up with Flathead County Sheriff's Office deputies already on scene, according to court documents. The deputies said the woman had left and the man, identified as Higgins, was going to clean up the mess. But Higgins took off on a bicycle, court documents said. Following along behind, the officers hit their emergency lights and directed Higgins, via loudspeaker, to stop. Higgins allegedly peddled faster. Making his way to a nearby bar, the 47-year-old ditched the bicycle and ducked inside, court documents said. Once ensconced in a bathroom stall, he allegedly refused to leave, saying he was defecating. Eventually, Higgins emerged from the stall and officers handcuffed him. He told the authorities he did not see the police vehicle following him with its emergency lights activated or hear any of the instructions issued over loudspeaker, court documents said. As Higgins cursed and yelled, officers searched him and found a hypodermic needle and glass bulb pipe adorned with brown residue, according to court documents. Investigators also learned that Higgins was banned from the park as part of a condition of his release on a case pending in Kalispell Municipal Court. Higgins allegedly became increasingly irate as officers put him in the back of a patrol vehicle, court documents said. Saying he owned guns, Higgins allegedly threatened to kill an officer's family. He also threatened to "put one" in the head of a municipal court judge, court documents alleged. Higgins allegedly told the officers he would direct "criminal friends and drug dealers" to target law enforcement. He underscored it by saying, "Now that is a threat," according to court documents. During the subsequent ride to the county jail, Higgins repeatedly yelled out a racial slur, court documents said. Higgins' history in the court system includes an assault with a weapon charge filed against him in 2022. He pleaded not guilty to the felony and the case was dismissed in June 2023. If convicted of the most serious charge, threats in official matters, Higgins faces up to 10 years in Montana State Prison and a $50,000 fine. News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@
