Callahan & Blaine

27-year-old Cynthia Lizbeth Ayala of Pomona has been charged in connection to an alleged drunken, hit-and-run collision in Anaheim that left three men dead.

Ayala is facing a half-dozen felony charges, including gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and hit-and-run with permanent and serious injury — she is accused of causing the two-vehicle crash on Brookhurst Street back in May.

Ayala appeared in court on Monday morning, but did not enter a plea.

According to police, Ayala was driving a Mercedes-Benz northbound on Brookhurst around 3 a.m., between Broadway and Orange Avenue, when she struck a Kia Soul driven by Alexander Smiller that was making a turn onto the street from a parking lot.

The Mercedes reportedly struck the front, left bumper of the Kia, causing major front-end damage to both vehicles.

Smiller, a 63-year-old Uber driver from Los Angeles, and his two passengers, 32-year-old Jacob Rolon of La Mirada and 36-year-old Richard Zuniga of Anaheim, were killed.

According to police, another driver, who police described as a good Samaritan, took Ayala and her passenger to a hospital after the fatal car crash.

The crash was investigated for several months as police worked to determine who was at fault, and the circumstances behind Ayala and her passenger leaving the scene before officers arrived.

The Mercedes would normally have the right-of-way if the driver was traveling on the street and the other vehicle was turning onto the roadway, police said shortly after the crash.

In a surveillance video obtained by NBC Los Angeles, the Kia pulls into the street, pauses and then gets slammed into. It is unclear if the Mercedes changed lanes just before the collision.

The general speed the Mercedes was traveling, among other factors, needed to be determined in order to figure out which driver was at fault.

According to her criminal complaint, Ayala allegedly had a blood-alcohol content of 0.218 at the time of the fatal crash, more than double the limit for driving. The complaint also cites “unsafe speed and inattention” as factors in the crash.

Accidents like these often leave victims with the right to pursue a claim. As one of the leading catastrophic personal injury law firms in California, Callahan & Blaine has obtained numerous record-breaking verdicts and settlements in cases like this, helping bring some small justice to the aggrieved family. If you or someone you know has suffered a catastrophic injury or died as the result of an accident, contact the best personal injury attorneys in Orange County for expert legal counsel. Contact Callahan & Blaine if you believe you have a right to seek justice at (888) 894-1703.