19-year-old charged in deaths of two friends

A Fullerton teen who crashed his truck, killing two passengers, was charged today with drunk driving and felony manslaughter.

Jared Berggren, 19, was driving about 70 mph through a Fullerton neighborhood early Monday morning when he lost control and crashed into a eucalyptus tree, prosecutors said.

Jacquelyn Ardalan, 19, who was riding in the front passenger seat of Berggren’s Toyota truck, and Miles Andrew Christensen, 19, who was in the back, were ejected from the truck. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

“You’ve got a 19-year-old, who shouldn’t have been drinking at all, [and] because of his actions now two of his friends are dead,” said Orange County District Attorney's office spokeswoman Susan Kang Schroeder.

Berggren, who suffered a skull fracture in the crash, had a blood alcohol level above 0.10%, prosecutors said. He is charged with two felony counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated with a sentencing enhancement for causing great bodily injury.

He faces a possible sentence of 13 years in state prison if convicted.

-- Paloma Esquivel

Comments

[maryam]

OMG.................................. IT WAS A TRAGIC ACCIDENT, JACKIE WAS ONE OF MY BEST FRIEND,S DAUGHTER, I AM SO SAD & UPSET FOR ARDALAN FAMILY, I WAS TRYING TO CONTACT WITH THEM BUY I COULD NOT THEY ARE IN A VERY HORRIBLE CONDITION. I CANT SLEEP AT NIGHT I DONT KNOW WHAT TO SAY , IT WAS A AWFUL ACCIDENT, WHEN I LOOK AT JACKIE ARDALAN PIC IN FACEBOOK I START TO CRY, GOD BLESS ARDALAN FAMILY.
WITH BEST WISHES
MARYAM HARIRI
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

[K Birkholm]

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