The Autism News | English
Alex Trujillo booking photo
By Larry Welborn | The Orange County Register
SANTA ANA – A 45-year-old Garden Grove cried on the witness stand Thursday as he told a jury he does not know what happened when he drove his pickup truck onto a Seal Beach sidewalk, where he struck and killed a woman riding her bicycle with her autistic son.
Alex David Trujillo testified that he did not drink at all on Oct. 12, 2008, before he ran over Catherine Busse, 46, although he did get drunk the night before at a wedding reception in Big Bear.
He insisted that he did not feel fatigued, lethargic or impaired when he got behind the wheel shortly before 5 p.m. to do a few errands a few blocks from his home.
“I felt fine,” Trujillo testified. “I don’t know (what happened). I don’t know.”
Deputy District Attorney Susan Price, however, contends that Trujillo was under the influence of “a deadly combination” of prescription drugs and alcohol when he drove his pickup onto the sidewalk on Lampson Avenue without braking or swerving.
Busse was pedaling her bike on the sidewalk with Sam, her 15-year-old son who is autistic – when she was struck from behind and fatally injured.
Forensic tests taken within an hour of the fatal collision indicated that Trujillo’s blood-alcohol level was .10, and that he had two painkillers and an antidepressant in his system, Price said.
Trujillo is charged with second-degree murder instead of vehicular manslaughter under the legal theory that he knew driving under the influence was dangerous, because of a prior drink-driving conviction, but elected to do so anyway.
He attended DUI alcohol awareness classes and a Mothers Against Drunk Driving victim-impact panel after he was convicted of drunken driving in 2002.
Busse was a “warrior mom” – a term given to mothers of autistic children – who made sure her son, who is mostly non-verbal – stayed active. She was vice president of human resources at American First Credit Union in La Habra and was active in Talk About Curing Autism, a volunteer group.
Trujillo faces a maximum sentence of 15 years to life in prison if convicted
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