FRIEND CHARGED WITH ACCESSORY AFTER THE CRIME FOR PROTECTING DRUNKEN DRIVER CONVICTED OF KILLING 18-YEAR-OLD WOMAN

FRIEND CHARGED WITH ACCESSORY AFTER THE CRIME FOR PROTECTING DRUNKEN DRIVER CONVICTED OF KILLING 18-YEAR-OLD WOMAN

SANTA ANA – A man was charged yesterday with helping his drunken-driver friend of 20 years flee the scene of a vehicular manslaughter and lying to police about his friend’s whereabouts. Jaime Servin, 38, Irvine, is charged with one felony count of accessory after the fact with knowledge of a person and one misdemeanor count of resisting and obstructing a peace officer. Servin also faces a sentencing enhancement for a prior strike conviction for robbery from 1992.  If convicted on all counts, he faces a maximum sentence of six years in state prison. Servin turned himself in to the La Palma Police Department late yesterday, June 9, 2011, and is out of custody on $100,000 bail. His arraignment date and Department are to be determined.

Early in the morning on Jan. 3, 2010, 38-year-old Robert Charles Serrano was intoxicated after consuming several alcoholic beverages, including at Jasper’s bar in Santa Ana with friend Erick Urias. At approximately 2:00 a.m., Serrano was driving a black BMW eastbound on MacArthur Boulevard while under the influence of alcohol. Urias was in the passenger seat. At the intersection of MacArthur Boulevard and Main Street in Santa Ana, Serrano failed to stop and crashed at a high rate of speed into the back of a Toyota Scion, which was stopped at a red light.

The impact of the crash pushed the Scion into the intersection. Serrano’s car traveled into the intersection and collided with a Toyota Corolla driven by Alfonso Benitez, which was legally making a left turn. The driver of a Chevrolet sedan, also making a legal left turn, was unable to avoid the several-car collision and also crashed.

After his car had come to a stop in the intersection, Serrano fled the scene on foot, leaving his injured passenger behind. Urias suffered lacerations to his forehead and hand. Benitez suffered a laceration to his shin. The driver of the Scion, Patrick Lewis, suffered pain to his head, neck, and shoulders. Corban White, the 18-year-old female passenger in the Scion, was transported to the hospital and died due to blunt force trauma to the head. The Chevrolet driver was uninjured.

Servin is accused of being in contact with Serrano on Jan. 3, 2010, after the collision. The defendant is accused of picking Serrano up from the scene of the crime and taking him to Servin’s house. Servin is accused of then going back to the scene of the collision. He is accused of telling Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) officers that he didn’t know Serrano’s whereabouts and denied having contact information for Serrano’s family members. He is accused of delaying the officers from immediately investigating the case, which is crucial in driving under the influence cases.

Serrano was arrested that afternoon at his mother’s Fountain Valley home by SAPD. He pleaded guilty to the court Feb. 22, 2011, to one felony count of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence while intoxicated and sentencing enhancements allegations for causing bodily injury to multiple victims, fleeing the scene, a prior strike conviction for a 1992 robbery, a prior conviction for driving under the influence in 2005 in California, and two prior convictions for driving under the influence in 1997 and a reckless driving involving alcohol in 1999 in Washington. He was sentenced to 31 years in state prison.