Driver Who Killed OC Youth Pastor Had Fentanyl In Her System, Prosecutors Allege

HUNTINGTON BEACH,CA — A 43-year-old woman charged with leading a crash that killed a bicyclist and injured two others had her charges upgraded Tuesday, court records show.

Amber Kristine Calderon was initially charged Oct. 22 with a count of hit-and-run with permanent and serious injury and two counts of failing to stop at a hit-and-run collision with injury or death, all felonies.

She pleaded not guilty to all charges Nov. 13.

Calderon, who was in court Monday, is now charged with vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated without gross negligence, driving under the influence of drugs causing bodily injury, possession of hard drugs with two or more prior convictions, hit-and-run causing permanent injury or death and two counts of hit-and-run with injury, all felonies.

The new charges were spurred by toxicology results that showed she had fentanyl, methamphetamine and marijuana in her system when her car struck and killed 45-year-old Eric John Williams of Garden Grove and inured two other bicyclists on Oct. 20 at Pacific Coast Highway and Newland Street, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

According to a GoFundMe post from Williams' family, Williams was a founder of Community Church of West Garden Grove and also a youth teaching pastor at Seaside Community Church. He had just celebrated his 20th wedding anniversary with his wife and was a father of three daughters and a son.

He was pronounced dead at the scene and two other cyclists were taken to hospitals to be treated for significant injuries, police said.

Calderon was driving a 2006 Mercedes E-Class car that struck the bicyclists, who were in a bike lane, and she kept driving for about a half-mile before stopping, authorities said.

She was traveling south on Pacific Coast Highway north of Newland when she drove on the shoulder and struck the victims, the Orange County District Attorney's Office said.

The two bicyclists who survived sustained injuries such as spinal fractures, broken ribs and a broken ankle, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors alleged that Calderon kept driving on a flat tire to a beach parking lot at Magnolia Street, going through a kiosk as a parking attendant tried to stop her and a witness to the fatal collision blocked her path.

Calderon has a criminal history of misdemeanor petty theft in 2009, felony sale or transport of a controlled substance in 2011 and misdemeanor burglary in 2012, according to court records.

City News Service contributed to this report.