A 34-year-old lawyer was sentenced on Friday, Jan. 9 to one year in jail and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service for a DUI crash that killed a United States Postal Service driver in Garden Grove.
Lotfullah Sohaib Latif faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, according to a news release issued after his conviction in October by the Orange County District Attorney’s office.
Latif was driving nearly 90 mph on the 22 Freeway, near the 405 freeway and Valley View Street, seconds before “veering off the highway and colliding with the guard rail,” around 3:55 a.m. on June 9, 2019, prosecutors said in a trial brief.
He “veered back onto the road” as the vehicle was disabled in the eastbound lanes. Carlos Alberto Lara, 58, crashed a semi-trailer tractor truck into the disabled vehicle and slammed into a pole, causing the truck to “burst into flames,” prosecutors said. Lara died at the scene.
When CHP officers contacted Latif on the right shoulder of the 22 freeway, he denied drinking or having been involved in a collision, according to the DA’s news release.
Latif’s defense attorney argued Latif tried to get the vehicle off the freeway but his vehicle was stuck. He also tried to turn on the hazard and headlights, his lawyer said in court papers.
A breath test showed Latif’s blood-alcohol level at .09% but a blood test showed it under the legal limit, his attorney said.
Latif was convicted Oct. 20 of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in Lara’s death, driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury and driving with a blood-alcohol level of .08% or more causing injury.
Jurors also found true sentencing enhancements for inflicting great bodily injury on the victim.
Latif was given until Jan. 23 to begin the jail sentence.
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