Vehicular Manslaughter

Ryan Dallas Cook was homeward bound on his motorcycle on an October night in 2005 when he clipped a stalled, darkened SUV that had rammed into a concrete barrier on the 55 Freeway, an impact that hurled him to the pavement, where he was hit by several passing cars and died. Police said the driver of the SUV was a Hyundai executive who had allegedly spent a long night drinking.

Despite pleas for mercy from the parents of a college student killed by a drunk driver, a judge Friday sentenced the 22-year-old woman behind the wheel to a prison sentence of nearly five years and four months -- a punishment he described as "fairly tough."

Actor Lane Garrison will accept responsibility for the death of a Beverly Hills High School student, his lawyer said in court Thursday as the television star was arraigned on charges of vehicular manslaughter in a fatal car crash. Garrison, 26, has also been charged with two felony drunk driving charges and a misdemeanor count of furnishing alcohol to a minor in the Dec. 2 accident. Garrison, who co-starred in Fox television's "Prison Break" until his character was killed off Oct.

Tuesday was usually family night for film director Bob Clark -- best known for "A Christmas Story" and the "Porky's" movies -- and his grown sons, Ariel and Michael. Ariel, 22, who had been studying music composition at Santa Monica College and was a part-time card dealer at a casino, would typically join his father and brother at the condo they rented in Pacific Palisades. They were night owls, said Lyne Leavy, who headed Clark's production company, Film Classic Productions.

Actor Lane Garrison will plead guilty to at least manslaughter in the death of a popular Beverly Hills High School student, his lawyer said in a court hearing Wednesday. Attorney Harland Braun said the onetime costar of the Fox television drama "Prison Break" admits responsibility for the crash last year that claimed the life of 17-year-old Vahagn Setian and injured two teenage girls. "We will be pleading at least to the vehicular manslaughter," Braun said.

A San Bernardino County judge Friday found a Rialto man guilty of vehicular manslaughter in a street racing accident that occurred 11 years ago. The facts of Monty Gill's case were not in dispute during the one-day trial. Gill's lawyers asked Superior Court Judge Arthur A.

The California Highway Patrol has recommended that vehicular manslaughter charges be filed against the driver of a big rig that slammed into the back of a minivan in May, killing three young siblings from Ladera Ranch, finding that he was driving too fast on the Santa Ana Freeway. Officer Chris Goodwin said today that the CHP forwarded the results of its crash investigation to the Orange County district attorney's office last week.

A driver pleaded no contest on Wednesday to vehicular manslaughter charges related to an accident that killed a noted film director and his son this year in Malibu. Bob Clark, 67, who directed the cult classic "Porky's" and "A Christmas Story," died with son Ariel Hanrath-Clark, 22, while driving on Pacific Coast Highway early in the morning April 5. Clark's car was hit by a sport utility vehicle driven by Hector Velazquez-Nava, 24, of Los Angeles. Velazquez-Nava had a blood alcohol level of 0.

A man who was involved in a fiery highway crash that killed five people has been booked on suspicion of five felony counts of vehicular manslaughter. Ryan Karr, 26, was arrested Thursday following a 10-month investigation into the Jan. 17 crash on Highway 101 near Windsor, California Highway Patrol officials said. Karr was driving in rush-hour traffic when he rear-ended a Honda Civic carrying six people, officials said. The Honda caught fire and trapped five passengers inside.

A woman whose lane change on the Moreno Valley Freeway in April 2004 led to a crash that killed three people pleaded guilty in Riverside County Superior Court Tuesday to three misdemeanor counts of vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence. Sofia Glentis of Upland pulled out of a lane slowed by traffic, surprising a woman driving a Honda Accord in the faster-moving left lane.