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A Texas nurse was hit with murder and manslaughter charges by Los Angeles County prosecutors over a fiery, high-speed crash last week that killed six people, including a pregnant woman.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon announced Monday that Nicole Linton, 37, of Houston, was charged with six counts of murder and five counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.
One of the victims is the pregnant woman’s unborn child, whose death California law allows to result in a murder charge.
Surveillance video captured the crash in the Windsor Hills neighborhood, at the busy intersection of Slauson and La Brea avenues around 1:40 p.m. Thursday.
Video of accident at Slauson/La Brea pic.twitter.com/eiRiejQTi5
— Downtown LA Scanner (@DowntownLAScan) August 4, 2022
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In the video, a dark-colored Mercedes speeds through a red light on La Brea at 90 mph and barrels into cross traffic.
The collision set multiple cars ablaze, including the one holding Asherey Ryan, 23, who was eight months pregnant, her son Alonzo Quintero, who was nearly one, and Ms. Ryan’s boyfriend, Reynold Lester. All three family members and the unborn child were pronounced dead at the scene.
“A young family was destroyed in the blink of an eye,” Mr. Gascon said during a Monday press conference.
Two other women were also killed in the crash. They have yet to be identified.
The Los Angeles Times reported that eight other people were injured in the crash. Six of those injured were teens, one of whom suffered major injuries.
Two law enforcement sources told the paper that Ms. Linton’s blood work is being checked to determine whether she was under the influence at the time of the crash.
A Tuesday report in the U.K. Daily Mail said authorities found no traces of drugs or alcohol in Ms. Linton’s system.
The same report, though, said she has a lengthy record of involvement in auto crashes — 13 in all, though the British paper said she was not found at fault in all of them.
If convicted of all charges, Ms. Linton faces up to 90 years to life in prison.
She was denied bail because she is a travel nurse who was renting a room in Los Angeles and had been planning to head to Hawaii.
