TORRANCE (CNS) - A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy is facing murder and reckless driving charges for an off-duty crash in Torrance last summer that killed his 23-year-old passenger and seriously injured two other people, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced today.
Daniel Manuel Auner, 23,is set to be arraigned June 11 at the Torrance courthouse on one count each of murder and reckless driving on a highway causing injury with an allegation of causing great bodily injury.
Auner was allegedly speeding when his car crashed into a traffic pole at the corner of Crenshaw Boulevard and 190th Street just after midnight last July 8, fatally injuring his front-seat passenger, Ashley Wells, according to the District Attorney's Office.
Two other passengers in the vehicle suffered serious injuries.
“Reckless driving can be deadly and no one knows that more than law enforcement officers,'' District Attorney George Gascon said in a written statement announcing the charges.
Auner was arrested Tuesday afternoon by Torrance police and was being held in lieu of $1 million bail, jail records show.
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