28-year-old woman arrested for drunk driving in Monterey Park car crash that leaves three dead

Early Friday, June 28, 2024, an SUV crashed into a tree at the corner of East Graves Avenue and Cecil Street in Monterey Park, killing three people and injuring two others. (Photo from video by Randy Dominguez on Key News Network)

A 28-year-old woman was behind bars on Saturday on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. Authorities believe this led to a rollover crash in a Monterey Park neighborhood that killed three people and injured her and her seven-year-old daughter.

Desiree Perez of Monterey Park was booked into jail on suspicion of drunken driving, child endangerment and three counts of vehicular manslaughter. The crash happened just after 12:30 a.m. Friday morning on Graves Avenue near Cecil Street, said Monterey Park Police Captain Bill Cuevas.

She was being held in jail on $500,000 bail and was scheduled to appear in Alhambra Superior Court on Monday, according to jail records.

The five people in the Jeep Cherokee driven by Perez left a family’s home and set off, Cuevas said, but their exact destination was not known.

The Jeep was traveling west toward Garfield Avenue when the driver struck a curb, a tree, a wall and three cars in front of a house, Monterey Park Police Chief Scott Wiese said Friday. One of the occupants, who died, was ejected and landed on the roof of the house.

While Perez and her daughter were wearing seat belts, the three dead were probably not wearing safety equipment, Cuevas said Saturday. Perez and the girl were taken to hospital with minor injuries, while Cuevas said Saturday the girl was only taken for observation.

Cuevas said one of the dead was Perez’s brother, but police did not release the identities of the dead except that they were two men and a woman.

One of the men was identified Saturday by the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office as 34-year-old Alexander Cota Jr. According to the autopsy report, he died in a vehicle.

All five people in the Jeep knew each other, but it was not known whether they all lived together, Cuevas said.

It is not yet known how fast the Jeep was traveling before the accident.

No one was injured in the house, but one of the residents, Felix Lam, said on Friday that the house’s windows were open and smoke, dust and debris entered the house.

Surveillance footage shows the SUV was already sideways and rolling along the sidewalk as it approached her house, Lam said. It hit her three cars – a Toyota Camry, a Prius and a Prius C. It broke the window of one, landed on the roof of another and was totally destroyed in the third.

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