SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — People in North Highlands gathered to remembered two people who were killed in a suspected DUI crash.
It happened July 11, the California Highway Patrol said the driver of a Honda Civic was traveling east on Elkhorn Boulevard and swerved onto the sidewalk for unknown reasons.
One of the victims was 62-year-old John ‘Animal’ Dynes. Family says his nickname was ‘Animal’ because he was a free spirit and lived life on his terms.
"He wasn't a person of means. But he did what he could do always," said Joyce Navarro, sister of the victim.
The other victim, Amy Brem, lived as unhoused for the past three years.
Dynes' family says he was not homeless but was independent and lived with different family members and mingled with the unhoused.
Witnesses say before the deadly crash, Brem and Dynes were looking for Brem’s dog when the suspected DUI crash happened.
The driver is still behind bars, identified as 20-year-old Alyssa Sandoval of North Highlands.
"The sound was something you have never heard before," said Paris Dye, who is with Liberty Towers Church. “I was on the other side of the parking lot, and I heard it. And when I looked up, all I saw was water bottles everywhere.”
This deadly crash happened during a national campaign called the 100 Deadliest Days of Summer. Rhonda Campbell with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) told ABC10 recently, between Memorial Day and Labor Day is when they see the most fatal and non-fatal accident.
"It's devastating because these families have just gone through the worst trauma they'll probably endure in their whole lives, and it's because of a choice that somebody else made,” said Campbell. “Drunk driving is a choice. It's 100 percent preventable 100 percent of the time."
While the tragedy can't be undone, family and friends hope people can finally use this heartbreak as knowledge and make sure their loved ones don't get behind the wheel intoxicated.
"Drinking and driving there's a better way,” said Dye. “It's a tragedy on all it and the people that were in the car.”
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