40-year-old DUI female driver crashes into a couple in Anaheim

 The DUI 40-year-old female driver from Garden Grove with three prior DUI convictions was sentenced to 15 years for life for the crash and related offenses on April 13, 2024, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

Todd Spitzer, the Orange County District Attorney, stated that it was significant for officers to avoid cynicism. 

“We need (victims) to remind us so we don’t get calloused,” Spitzer said. “I never want to lose my humanity doing this work. … I don’t want to be numb.”

"Orange County residents are united in fighting crime," Spitzer said. 

“I feel very strongly we’re so united about keeping our community safe to the best of our ability,” Spitzer said. 

James Alvarez remembered the frightening moment he spotted a sport utility vehicle slam into his pregnant wife while walking on a sidewalk in Anaheim during the night about 4 years ago according to The Orange County Register. 

James and his 23-year-old wife, Yesenia Lisette Aguilar, took daily walks regularly during her pregnancy. 

“The only difference that day was we took a different route,” Alvarez said. “We took the long way home.”

He witnesses his wife scream from the shopping plaza as the SUV loses control. 

 “I closed my eyes, thinking this is how our lives would end,” James said. 

Suddenly, his wife was separated from James, one of the speakers of the Orange County District Attorney's Office's yearly ceremony for crime victims on April 22 located in Santa Ana.

“I see it so vividly,” he said, choking up. “Seeing her, the person I expected to spend the rest of my life with suddenly gone. … I could not register what was going on.”

James couldn't visit her wife because the accident occurred during a pandemic according to the paramedic. 

“I remember telling the paramedics to save her, and if you can’t, save my daughter,” he said.

When James arrived at the hospital, he found out that his wife died. However, the doctors were able to save his daughter at the intensive care unit. 

Watching his daughter fighting for her life caused James to go on. 

Adalyn Rose, wife of James passed away on Aug. 11 coincidentally is the anniversary of his mom's death.