Repeat DUI driver pleads guilty in fatal crash case
A repeat DUI offender who fatally injured a motorcyclist on Interstate 10 while under the influence of drugs and alcohol, then fled the scene, pleaded guilty today to a vehicular manslaughter charge and was immediately sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison.
Dawn Fleck, 58, of Palm Desert, admitted causing the April 7, 2017, wreck that killed 41-year-old Compton resident Robert Prudholme.
She was initially charged with second-degree murder, but that count, along with charges of felony hit-and-run and DUI causing injury, were dismissed under the plea agreement.
The victim was rear-ended in the slow lane of eastbound I-10, east of Bob Hope Drive, at 7:46 a.m. The impact threw him from his Harley Davidson, after which he was 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. Fleck was arrested about the same time, after officers received information from a witness, according to CHP Officer Mike Radford.
In addition to the manslaughter plea, Fleck admitted two prior DUI convictions from 2006 and 2013, with the latter case including charges 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, according to court documents.
Fleck was on probation for the 2013 wreck when the fatal crash occurred.
