Man Gets 5 Years Probation for Crash that Killed Fountain Valley Man

By PAUL ANDERSON
City News Service

A man who pleaded guilty to a crash that killed a Fountain Valley man two years ago was placed on five years of formal probation today and ordered to check himself by January into a facility that treats patients with psychological and substance abuse issues.

Tyler Bevington Sullivan, 22, of Costa Mesa pleaded guilty July 30 to gross vehicular manslaughter in an offer from Orange County Superior Court Judge Daniel Barrett McNerney that allows Sullivan to avoid time behind bars, Deputy District Attorney Stephen Cornwell said.

Martin Moreno, 47, was killed May 2, 2012, in a head-on collision with a van driven by Sullivan in Garden Grove, Cornwell said.

Sullivan was erratically driving up to 70 mph about 8:30 p.m. when he veered the van into the opposite lanes of traffic, ran a red light and slammed into Moreno’s pickup truck on the southbound overpass of the San Diego (405) Freeway where Bolsa Chica Road becomes Valley View Street.

Experts later determined Sullivan, who has been diagnosed as bipolar, was in a manic state at the time of the crash.

Moreno’s daughters, a sister and ex-wife criticized the sentence in statements to the judge as they gave emotional testimonials to Moreno, who was a Boys & Girls Club volunteer.

McNerney said he was “disturbed” by the report probation officials prepared for sentencing after the defendant pleaded guilty.

“The probation and sentencing report in this case is disturbing to this court on so many levels it’s difficult to articulate,” McNerney said.

Sullivan has grown up “in an environment that in his own words was an environment without consequences,” McNerney said, pointing out how the defendant grabbed the wheel while his father was driving, causing a collision, but Sullivan’s father took the blame for the crash.

Sullivan “would rather drink beer and play guitar” and dream of moving to Nashville to become a rock star than enroll in school, work at a job or seek some vocational training, the judge said.

After the crash with his father, Sullivan was released from a hospital on a psychiatric hold, but then got behind the wheel again and collided with Moreno’s vehicle days later, the judge said.

McNerney ordered Sullivan to refrain from drinking alcohol or taking unauthorized drugs during his probation. He also cannot drive.

Moreno’s sister, Mona Hairabedian, told the judge her big brother once sent her a text that has comforted her in the days since his death.

“In order to be brave, you have to be a little afraid,” Hairabedian said the text read.

“As I stand here in this courtroom, under these circumstances, I can’t help but think of that text message. Because, little did I know, that those words would be intended for a day like this.”

One of Moreno’s mottos was “What will you be known for,” his sister said. Hairabedian said Moreno was a former star athlete who excelled in baseball and landed a full-ride scholarship at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

“He was an educated, successful, hardworking man with so much left to do in his life,” she said.

Moreno’s ex-wife, Christine Sweeney, told the judge her family was trying to stay positive like the victim would have wanted.

“Martin was a forgiving person and we need to follow in his example,” Sweeney said.

The victim’s step-daughter, Emily Janio, recounted how she and her mother frantically looked for Moreno the night of his death when he did not respond to text messages. Finally, police told them what happened.

“After hours of searching and calling and panicking, this is where the night brought us. My mother was left without her husband and I without my father and my closest friend,” Janio said.

“He was the man who taught me how to play basketball,” she said. “When I was younger, he would take me to a park by our house early in the morning, when it was still foggy outside, and show me how to dribble and how to hold the ball in my hands to shoot.”

Janio said she thought the judge’s decision was a “failure.”

“Tyler Sullivan is a criminal and yet he will be leaving this courtroom without having served any time in jail,” she said.

Sullivan faced the family and read from a note he had written.

“To the family and loved ones of Mr. Moreno I just want to tell you how sorry I am. This shouldn’t have happened, I know that,” he said. “I’m angry at me too... I just pray to God he’ll grant us peace and help us move on.”

PHOTO Patch file photo.

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