Woman Flees To Mexico After Alleged DUI Accident Turned Fatal

California requires that drivers who are involved in an accident stop and exchange information if there is property damage or injuries or fatalities involved. Failure to do so is commonly known as hit and run. Hit and run involving only property damage is a misdemeanor, while hit and run involving injury or death is a felony. Many times, an intoxicated driver will leave the scene out of fear of being arrested for DUI. This often makes matters worse, as the driver will then face charges of both the DUI and the hit and run. If the DUI involved serious injury or a fatality, this can mean facing two felony charges.

KTLA reports that the LAPD is to discuss the arrest of a woman who fled to Mexico just a few hours after a horrific accident that claimed the life of a man.

27-year-old Maritza Joana Lara, a resident of Van Nuys, was detained by Mexican Federal Police in Chiapas on August 15th, nearly two months after the fatal Father’s Day crash. She was deported back to the United States two days later to face charges related to that accident.

On Father’s Day, Lara allegedly was driving a Lexus when she blew through a red light and crashed into another vehicle in North Hills at the intersection of Haskell Avenue and Parthenia Street. She is then seen by surveillance camera walking away from the accident and flagging down a Good Samaritan, who drove her home.

The crash killed 48-year-old father Francisco Hernandez Rivas and critically injured four other people.

Lara then took her four children to a Greyhound bus station and fled to Mexico.

Authorities are citing the empty beer cans found inside the Lexus to prove that Lara had been drinking prior to the accident. According to the LAPD, Lara has a previous conviction for DUI.

Lara is scheduled to appear in court on September 18th.

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