Man Charged With Murder For Deliberately Running Over Woman: DA

LONG BEACH, CA — A 30-year-old man is now facing a murder charge in addition to other felony counts after allegedly running a woman over with his truck after she got into a physical altercation with another woman in the vehicle, the District Attorney's Office announced Thursday. The woman died from her injuries a week later.

Harrison Samuel Bowser, of Los Angeles, was scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 2 at the Long Beach courthouse on one count each of murder and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, as well as one count each of hit-and-run driving resulting in injury to another person and assault with a deadly weapon — a truck.

Co-defendant Samantha Smith, 26, of Long Beach faces one felony count of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury.

The victim, 25-year-old Elizabeth Perez Espino, was run down around 3:30 a.m. Dec. 15 at a gas station in the 400 block of West Anaheim Street, according to police and prosecutors. She died of her injuries on Sunday.

According to police, the victim traveled in a truck with the defendants to the location, where she got into an argument and then a physical altercation with Smith, the other woman in the truck, who threw her on the ground. Bowser then allegedly ran over the victim and left the scene.

Police arrived to find Espino with severe upper body injuries. Bowser and Smith were arrested within hours of the attack, and both were initially booked on suspicion of attempted murder.

According to jail records, Bowser remains in custody, but Smith posted bail and was released from custody on Dec. 18.

If convicted as charged, Bowser would face a possible maximum sentence of 15 years to life in state prison, while Smith could face a maximum of four years behind bars.

City News Service contributed to this post