Suspected DUI driver who fatally struck Long Beach family of 3 on Halloween night is arrested on unrelated charges
The 20-year-old man accused of driving intoxicated and fatally striking a family of three on Halloween night in Long Beach was arrested on Tuesday on unrelated misdemeanor charges from an earlier suspected crime, officials said.
The driver, Carlo Navarro of Long Beach, is suspected of plowing his SUV into a mother, father and their 3-year-old son walking on a Bixby Knolls-area sidewalk on Halloween night. Long Beach police say that Navarro stayed at the scene and was cooperative with authorities.
He was booked that night on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, among other DUI-related charges. Navarro was released on $100,000 bail Friday night.
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On Tuesday – amid people on social media expressing outrage that the suspected DUI driver was out on bail – Long Beach police arrested Navarro, and he was being held on $500,000 bail, as of Wednesday morning.
He was charged with three misdemeanor counts in connection with a suspected crime on June 30: burglary, vandalism and possession of burglary tools, according to Long Beach City Prosecutor Doug Haubert.
“Working with the Long Beach Police Department,” Haubert said, “we went to court Tuesday morning to request a $500,000 warrant for our misdemeanor case. Later the same day, Navarro was located and arrested by LBPD.”
The misdemeanor burglary charges and arrest are unrelated to the Halloween night incident, but it does justify a higher bail amount in the city prosecutor’s case, according to Haubert.
Navarro was arrested around 6 p.m. Tuesday and was being held at the Long Beach City Jail, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department inmate records.
If Navarro does not post bail on the new charges, he’s expected to be arraigned on Thursday.
The city prosecutor’s office requested a higher bail amount, Haubert said, “because we believed that after published reports of possible murder charges, there was a risk that he would flee.”
Navarro also posed a danger to others, Haubert said, citing the DUI incident.
“It is a high (bail) amount for a misdemeanor case,” he said. “But I think it is appropriate.”
If convicted of all three misdemeanor charges, Navarro faces a maximum of 2 1/2 years in county jail, Haubert said.
According to earlier Long Beach police arrest records, Navarro was arrested on June 30 on suspicion of two felony counts, of commercial burglary and vandalism of $400 or more; and one misdemeanor count of possession of burglary tools. He was detained in the Bixby Knolls area early that morning near 45th Street and California Avenue.
Navarro was released on $20,000 bail the next day, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department inmate records.
“He was caught by Long Beach police after breaking into a vape shop in North Long Beach,” Haubert said of the June 30 incident. “He had burglary tools with him, and he had broken the glass of the vape shop in order to steal the items.”
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office – the entity that handles the city’s felony charges – referred the case to the Long Beach City Prosecutor’s Office, which handles city misdemeanors, on July 25, spokesman Ricardo Santiago said.
“We have also been in close contact with the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, as we typically do on significant cases,” Haubert said. “We are coordinating and communicating with them to make sure nothing is missed.”
Meanwhile, as Navarro was behind bars, the Long Beach community was still in mourning for the family of three killed in the tragic Halloween night incident.
Memorials have sprung throughout the city, and at least two vigils in honor of the Long Beach family were planned this week.
Joseph “Yousef” Awaida, his wife Raihan Dakhil and their son Omar were walking home on a sidewalk at Los Cerritos Park around 10 p.m. after a night of trick-or-treating when police say Navarro struck them with his SUV.
Joseph Awaida, 30, died the same night of the crash.
Omar Awaida, 3, suffered serious injuries and died Saturday.
Dakhil, 32, died on Sunday from her injuries.
Friends of the family had expressed disbelief and frustration at how the family – well-known and cherished in their community – could have been wiped out by a single suspected DUI incident.
Family, friends and acquaintances had raised more than $300,000 by Tuesday morning in multiple crowdsourcing campaigns to help pay for medical and funeral expenses. The family has said that whatever money is left over will go toward helping others, according to a GoFundMe.com page.
The family was very active in the Muslim community, according to those who knew them.
Thousands attended a funeral service for Joseph and Omar Awaida on Monday afternoon.
Joseph Awaida worked at Joe’s Auto Center, his family’s business in Bixby Knolls, and Dakhil was a social worker. The couple had both recently graduated from Cal State Long Beach, and their son attended the university’s day care center.
“You start thinking about these things ― and you get angry,” said Jim Schrage, a lecturer in the CSULB School of Social Work and Dakhil’s seminar instructor in the School of Social Work master’s program.
“Just as the person on the short end of the stick,” he said, “it’s so frustrating – especially when you see so much good in this little family – and it’s just sort of wiped out in this moment of disregard.”
For the Halloween night incident, Navarro was booked on suspicion of three felonies: gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, DUI alcohol causing injury and DUI of 0.08% blood-alcohol content or more, according to arrest records. There were also multiple misdemeanor charges.
One count of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated is considered homicide and is punishable by up to 10 years, according to the state’s penal code.
But it was still unknown what the formal charges against Navarro would be, because the case had not been presented to the district attorney’s office as of Tuesday afternoon, spokesman Santiago said.