VEHICULAR MANSLAUGHTER is now the charge in a fatal DUI crash (Shutterstock).

From a staff writer

A motorist accused of fatally injuring a bicyclist and critically injuring two more in Huntington Beach in February is now facing a charge of vehicular manslaughter.

The Orange County District Attorney’s office upgraded the charges after toxicology reports returned on Dec. 10 showed that the driver – identified as Amber Kristine Calderon, 43, of Long Beach – had in her system fentanyl, methamphetamine and marijuana when she drove off the roadway on Pacific Coast Highway north of Newland Street and onto the shoulder on Oct. 20, 2025.

Her vehicle struck three bicyclists, killing a 45-year-old father of four and critically injuring two others. The man killed was Eric John Williams of Garden Grove.

According to the OCDA, she did not stop despite her car having a flat tire and “obvious damage” to her vehicle. She drove for another two-thirds of a mile before driving though a state park parking lot kiosk without paying before she was blocked in by another driver who witnessed the accident and followed her.

The formal charges against her are now one felony count of 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, one felony charge of hit-and-run causing permanent injury or death and two felony counts of hit-and-run with injury.

If convicted on all counts, she faces a prison sentence of 12 years and four months.

She is scheduled to be back in court on Feb. 20, 2026.