A 24-year-old woman suspected of causing a crash that killed two people in Long Beach over the weekend is also accused of fatally striking a bicyclist in the city’s Alamitos Beach neighborhood in October, authorities said.
Ahkeyajahnique Owens, 24, of Long Beach on Wednesday, Jan. 7, pleaded not guilty to one count of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence to an Oct. 6 crash along Fourth Street near Bonito Avenue that left 35-year-old Raul Augustin Gallopa critically injured, according to authorities and court records.
Gallopa died at a hospital two weeks later, police said.
Gallopa was riding eastbound along Fourth and attempting to make a left turn onto Bonito when he was hit by Owens’ BMW, police said. Owens remained at the scene of the crash.
Inmate records show Owens was arrested on Oct. 6 on suspicion of reckless driving after police determined she was speeding and released the next day on her own recognizance.
On Sunday, Jan. 4, Owens sped along Sixth Street and ran a red light at Atlantic Avenue in a BMW before slamming into a Nissan sedan and a Kia Soul as they were traveling on Atlantic, police said.
The Nissan ended up on its roof. Two passengers — Bobbi Smith, 24 of Buena Park and Gilberto Lopez, 21, of Midway City — were ejected and died at the scene, police said.
Two other Nissan occupants were hospitalized, and so was the Kia Soul’s driver.
Owens ran away, police said.
On Tuesday, Jan. 6, she turned herself in, to Long Beach police, and was booked into jail on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter related to the Oct. 6 crash, police said.
Detectives plan to present a separate case for the Sunday crash next week, police said.
Owens was being held in jail on $200,000 bail, police said.
