{"id":83996,"date":"2025-12-29T22:03:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T22:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/83996\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T22:03:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T22:03:11","slug":"mother-of-braun-levi-allegedly-killed-by-dui-driver-in-manhattan-beach-joins-others-to-call-for-tougher-dui-laws-daily-breeze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/83996\/","title":{"rendered":"Mother of Braun Levi, allegedly killed by DUI driver in Manhattan Beach, joins others to call for tougher DUI laws \u2013 Daily Breeze"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mother of an 18-year-old man who authorities say was killed in a crash by an alleged drunk driver earlier this year in Manhattan Beach joined prosecutors and politicians at a press conference on Monday morning, Dec. 29, to call for tougher penalties for intoxicated drivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia\u2019s current DUI laws are broken and weak and fail to protect families like ours,\u201d said Jennifer Levi, whose son Braun was killed in the May 4 crash while attempting to cross Sepulveda Boulevard at Ronda Drive. \u201cWe can stop these tragedies.\u201d<\/p>\n

She, along with Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, California State Sen. Bob Archuleta, D-Pico Rivera, and Los Angeles Councilmember Traci Park, called on Gov. Gavin Newsom and other lawmakers to take action.<\/p>\n

On Dec. 18, more than seven months after the crash, prosecutors filed charges of second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and a misdemeanor count of driving when privilege suspended or revoked while driving with a specified blood-alcohol level against 33-year-old Jenia Resha Belt of Los Angeles. She was arrested on Dec. 23.<\/p>\n

In a statement Monday, prosecutors said Belt worked as a security guard.<\/p>\n

In court documents filed by Manhattan Beach police, Belt allegedly told officers that the SUV she was driving belonged to her mother and that she began driving from Hermosa Beach after drinking one Moscow mule. Her blood-alcohol level was later measured at 0.19%, more than twice the legal limit to drive.<\/p>\n

\"Braun<\/p>\n

Braun Levi was a varsity tennis team captain for three years, a member of the Student Council, a senior Big Brother and a volleyball team manager. (Photo courtesy Loyola High School)\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A SUV was allegedly driven by 33-year-old Jenia Resha Belt in the early morning hours of May 4 and collided and killed 18-year-old Braun Levi in Manhattan Beach, authorities said. (Nathaniel Percy, Daily Breeze\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/p>\n

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman speaks at a press conference on Monday, Dec. 29, announcing charges against a Los Angeles woman who allegedly drove drunk and killed 18-year-old Braun Levi in Manhattan Beach in May. (Nathaniel Percy, Daily Breeze\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Jennifer<\/p>\n

Jennifer Levi speaks at a press conference Monday, Dec. 29, put on to announce charges against a Los Angeles woman who allegedly drove drunk and killed her son, 18-year-old Braun Levi, in Manhattan Beach in May. (Nathaniel Percy, Daily Breeze\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Players<\/p>\n

Players on the Mira Costa boys volleyball team wore T-shirts over their game jerseys on May 9 in honor of Loyola tennis player Levi Braun, who died May 4. (Photo by Steve Fryer, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Flowers,<\/p>\n

Flowers, candles and photos adorn a memorial for 18-year-old Braun Levi, a Loyola High School tennis team captain, on May 5. (Photo by Raphael Richardson, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Loyola<\/p>\n

Loyola High School athlete Braun Levi, 18, who was killed early Sunday, May 4, 2025, by a suspected DUI driver. (Courtesy of Loyola High School IG)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 7<\/p>\n

Braun Levi was a varsity tennis team captain for three years, a member of the Student Council, a senior Big Brother and a volleyball team manager. (Photo courtesy Loyola High School)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Braun Levi was a talented tennis player at Loyola High School, in Los Angeles, who won four consecutive league titles and was nearing graduation. He was planning to attend the University of Virginia.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe should be planning his future,\u201d Park said, \u201cnot being remembered for the way his life was taken from him (by) a driver who never should have been behind the wheel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennifer Levi said her son\u2019s life was \u201cbrutally and senselessly ended in a preventable tragedy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guarantee if any of you had to identify the body of your child or loved one in the manner that my husband and I did a few months ago, you would not be silent,\u201d she said. \u201cThe feeling, the sight, the smell of identifying our son\u2019s body will never leave my mind, body or soul.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m committed to advancing a new bill to restructure California DUI sentencing and punishment,\u201d Jennifer Levi continued. \u201c(To) implement real effective deterrents against driving under the influence and impaired, make consequential punishments and make mandatory reading of the Watson warning even when a plea deal is given.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Watson warning is issued by a judge after a DUI conviction that the defendant\u2019s actions could be dangerous to human life and if their drinking and driving kills someone, they could be charged with murder.<\/p>\n

That legislation was being pushed by Archuleta, who said Monday that he had lost a granddaughter to an alleged drunk driver about a year ago.<\/p>\n

The Levi family had relocated to Manhattan Beach after their home burned in the Palisades fire.<\/p>\n

He was walking with friends about 12:45 a.m. when he was hit by the SUV allegedly driven by Belt.<\/p>\n

Belt stopped after the crash and remained in the parking lot of a nearby motel, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

Belt had a suspended license after a previous offense. She could face up to life in state prison if convicted as charged, Hochman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese very, very serious charges are a message not just to Miss Belt,\u201d Hochman said, \u201cbut to everybody out there who is thinking during this holiday season or at any point in time of getting behind the wheel, drunk and intoxicated, or engaging in excessive speeds, that if you go ahead and engage in this incredibly dangerous conduct, and you are driving a car \u2014 a multi-thousand pound potential instrument of death \u2014 that if you go ahead and actually kill or injure someone, you could be looking at murder charges, (and) that then you will be facing life imprisonment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Belt was scheduled to appear in Torrance Superior Court on Jan. 13, when she may enter a plea to the charges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The mother of an 18-year-old man who authorities say was killed in a crash by an alleged drunk…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[303,266,75,84,83,9,24,12,63,27],"class_list":["post-83996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-crime","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}