OAKLAND — At round 2:20 a.m. on March 12, an El Cerrito man named Nipun Ajmani allegedly crashed a Honda on the MacArthur Maze right into a stalled BMW, killing his 36-year-old passenger.
However in line with police, a short while earlier than the crash, Ajmani, 42, had been stopped at a DUI checkpoint, not as a driver however as a passenger. After figuring out Ajmani was drunk, police gave him a experience to Berkeley, however a short while later Ajmani ended up behind the wheel, in line with the California Freeway Patrol.
Now, Ajmani has been charged with homicide and being held in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on a no-bail maintain.
The weird sequence of occasions, specified by a possible trigger assertion written by police, begins on the DUI checkpoint, in Oakland, the place Ajmani was a passenger.
Police stated they detained the driving force of the automobile Ajmani was driving in and requested Ajmani if he was sober sufficient to drive. They'd him blow in a breathalyzer take a look at, and after studying the outcomes — which registered Ajmani’s blood-alcohol stage at twice the authorized restrict — gave him a experience to his enterprise in Berkeley.
After being dropped off, on the 1000 block of College Avenue in Berkeley, Ajmani and 36-year-old Zeeshan Khan allegedly acquired into the Honda and headed to the freeway. A couple of minutes later, the Honda crashed, killing Khan on influence and injuring Ajmani sufficient that he required hospitalization, in line with courtroom data.
Ajmani was formally arrested at Highland Hospital later that morning, and transferred to Santa Rita Jail about 24 hours after the crash. The Alameda County District Lawyer charged him with drunk driving, in addition to one depend every of homicide and manslaughter.
Underneath state regulation, prosecutors can get a homicide conviction in drunk driving crashes in the event that they show the defendant was intoxicated and knew what she or he was doing was harmful to human life. If Ajmani is convicted of each homicide and manslaughter, he can solely be sentenced for a kind of prices, since there's one sufferer.
Ajmani is scheduled to enter a plea on April 28, in line with courtroom data.