A 5-year-old Utah girl is dead after a drunk driver, traveling more than twice the 35-mph speed limit, slammed head-on into a family’s car as they drove to a hair appointment earlier this month.
Court documents say Charmayne Huerta-Guzman, 25, has been charged with manslaughter, negligent operation o a vehicle resulting in death, and negligetnoperation of a vehicle resulting in injury, KTVX reported. She also faces several misdemeanors, including reckless driving, driving on a denied license, negligent driving, speeding, and unlawful passing.
The family car was driven by Semir Lilic, a 32-year-old single father, with his 5- and 6-year-old children as passengers. Lilic and his 6-year-old son were rushed to a hospital, while 5-year-old Lennyn was lifeflighted to a different hospital with severe head wounds, including skull fractures and brain bleeds.
She died several days after the January 14 crash after she was taken off life support.
“My little girl is going to be gone, so she don’t suffer,” Samir Lilic told KTVX before Lennyn was removed from life support. “I’ll take all the suffering of her in my heart, and I’ll suffer for her for the rest of my life. I just want her to go to a better place.”
Lilic suffered a broken collar bone and a broken leg in the crash. His son’s hip was injured, and he has a broken nose.
Witnesses told police that they saw a man in Huerta-Guzman’s car remove bottles of alcohol from the crashed vehicle and hide them in the bushes at a nearby church.
Huerta-Guzman allegedly told officers they had been drinking before the crash and were “heading home.” A preliminary blood test, taken at the hospital, showed her blood alcohol content at 0.24.
In addition to not having a valid driver’s license, investigators said Huerta-Guzman did not have insurance.
She is being held without bail and is due back in court on February 6.
