Palm Desert woman accused in deadly DUI crash has 2 prior DUI convictions

Murder and other charges were filed Tuesday against a Palm Desert probationer who was allegedly under the influence of drugs and alcohol when she rear-ended a motorcyclist on Interstate 10, fatally injuring him, then fled the scene.

Dawn Fleck, 56, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of second-degree murder, DUI gross vehicular manslaughter, hit-and-run, DUI and a misdemeanor count of driving on a suspended license, stemming from the death of 41-year-old Compton resident Robert Prudholme.

The crash was one of three involving motorcycles in the Coachella Valley Friday morning.

The motorcyclist was rear-ended in the slow lane of eastbound Interstate 10, east of Bob Hope Drive, at 7:46 a.m. last Friday. He was thrown from the bike, then struck by Fleck’s 2007 Chrysler PT Cruiser, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Prudholme was pronounced dead at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs about 20 minutes after the crash.

According to CHP Officer Mike Radford, Fleck was arrested about the same time, after officers received information from a witness. Court records show that Fleck has two prior misdemeanor DUI convictions
in Riverside County, one from 2006, and another stemming from a 2013 crash in Palm Desert.

Read: Motorcyclists weigh in on recent crashes crashes in the Coachella Valley

In the 2013 crash, a declaration in support of an arrest warrant states that Fleck was arrested for driving under the influence of Seroquel, an antipsychotic medication, Methadone, which treats pain or narcotic drug addiction and Carisprodol, a muscle relaxant otherwise known as Soma.

She was on probation for the 2013 wreck when last week’s crash occurred.

Fleck, who was being held on $1 million bail, will return to court April 20 for a felony settlement conference.