Alleged drunk driver facing manslaughter charges arrested again
A man who allegedly ran a red light while drunk, triggering a Palm Desert crash that killed a Palm Desert resident, is due in court this week on charges filed last fall.
Pedro Castellanos-Leon, 29, of Thousand Palms, was arrested Friday on La Canada Way in Thousand Palms, and was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail, according to county jail records.
He’s charged with DUI gross vehicular manslaughter and four counts of DUI causing injury in connection with the Sept. 3, 2016, crash that killed 62-year-old Scott Herbert.
Castellanos-Leon allegedly ran a red light at the intersection of Dinah Shore Drive and Monterey Avenue around 10 p.m. and crashed his vehicle into a Ford Mustang. Herbert, the Mustang’s front seat passenger, died at the scene, and the Mustang’s driver was injured.
A sheriff’s deputy investigating the crash said “an odor of an alcoholic beverage” could be detected from Castellanos-Leon, that he “had red, watery, bloodshot eyes,” and that he “appeared confused on unsteady on his feet,” according to an arrest warrant declaration. He allegedly did not consent to a blood draw at the scene; blood taken after a search warrant was obtained showed that he had a blood-alcohol content of .05 four hours after the crash, the declaration states.
Castellanos-Leon was initially arrested in connection with the crash, but was released from custody pending further investigation that resulted in the filing of charges last September.
He’s expected to make his initial court appearance on Wednesday at the Larson Justice Center.
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