A suspected hit-and-run driver who killed two people in downtown Long Beach on Sunday is also responsible for a deadly crash that occurred just three months earlier, prosecutors alleged in court on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Ahkeyajahniq Owens, a 24-year-old Long Beach woman, was in court to face a recently filed charge of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence for allegedly striking a bicyclist who was attempting to make a left turn on Fourth Street near Bonito Avenue in October.<\/p>\n
During the routine hearing, Owens pleaded not guilty to the charge, but in a surprise twist, prosecutors mentioned near the end of the proceeding that Owens is also believed to be responsible for Sunday\u2019s high-speed crash at Sixth Street and Atlantic Avenue<\/a>.<\/p>\n They alleged that video and eyewitness statements show she was \u201cspeeding over 100 mph\u201d and \u201crunning red lights\u201d before slamming into two cars \u2014 killing two people and injuring three others.<\/p>\n Owens has not been charged in that crash. Deputy District Attorney Teresa Milligan brought it up as she advocated for Owens to be held without bail on the charge stemming from the earlier collision.<\/p>\n Owens, she argued, is \u201ca huge risk to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n Milligan said a witness described Owens driving at 100 mph when she hit 35-year-old Raul Augustin Galloppa along Fourth Street on the evening of Oct. 6.<\/p>\n She was initially arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor reckless driving and quickly released without bail. Owens wasn\u2019t held on more serious charges because she remained at the scene and Galloppa did not die from his injuries until two weeks later, leaving reckless driving as \u201cthe only applicable arrest charge the evening of the crash,\u201d LBPD Sgt. Bradford Stein said.<\/p>\n While free, Milligan said, Owens killed 24-year-old Bobbi Smith and 21-year-old Gilberto Lopez in the Atlantic Avenue crash on Sunday.<\/p>\n