| For Immediate Release Case # 11WF1849 August 26, 2011 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami
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DRIVER TO BE ARRAIGNED FOR HITTING AND KILLING MAN ON BIKE BEFORE FLEEING THE SCENE
WESTMINSTER – A driver will be arraigned Monday for hitting and killing a man on a bicycle and then fleeing the scene. Adam Carl Garrett, 19, Huntington Beach, is charged with one felony count of hit-and-run causing death and one misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of four years in state prison. The defendant is out of custody on $50,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Monday, Aug. 29, 2011, in Department W-14, at 8:30 a.m., West Justice Center, Westminster.
Shortly before 3:00 a.m. on May 15, 2011, Garrett is accused of driving northbound in his Toyota Camry on Interstate 405 in Fountain Valley. The defendant is accused of exiting the freeway at Warner Avenue and traveling westbound toward Huntington Beach. He is accused of crashing into the back of a bicycle and throwing 25-year-old bicyclist Hung Khac Do off his bike. Do landed in the far right lane of Warner Avenue. Garret is accused of causing damage to his car consistent with colliding with a person riding a bicycle.
After hitting the victim, Garrett is accused of fleeing the scene without assisting Do or contacting police and paramedics. He is accused of returning to his home in Huntington Beach approximately four miles away.
Soon after the hit-and-run, a limousine driver driving on Warner Avenue saw the victim lying on the road and called his brother, who called 911. Another driver on Warner Avenue stopped to assist Do and a passenger got out to administer Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation until police arrived at the scene. Once an ambulance arrived, Do was transported to University of California, Irvine Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead 40 minutes later. An autopsy determined the cause of death to be multiple blunt force trauma injuries.
At approximately 3:20 a.m., Garrett is accused of calling 911 and falsely reporting his involvement in the incident. Sometime that morning, police contacted Garrett at his home and located his damaged car nearby.
Deputy District Attorney Nancy Hayashida of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
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