Newport Beach DUI driver receives sentence

A 21-year-old Newport Beach woman who killed a pedestrian while driving drunk was sentenced Monday to a year of treatment and three years of probation.

Shana Lynne Calderon struck Michael McLaughlin, 29, on Dec. 12 as she exited the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

McLaughlin, who had just been promoted at work, flew onto the windshield of Calderon’s SUV and onto the pavement near Newport Boulevard and 19th Street, prosecutors said in a statement.

Calderon pulled over, talked to a witness and then drove away, prosecutors stated in a news release. She did not have a valid driver’s license.

Two hours later, she turned herself in to the Costa Mesa Police Department. She showed signs of intoxication, including bloodshot, watery eyes and the odor of alcohol on her breath. She was also holding two hollowed-out pen containers used to take prescription drugs, prosecutors said.

McLaughlin died a week later at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana.

Calderon pleaded guilty Aug. 13 to a felony count of hit and run causing death; one misdemeanor count of driving under the influence; and one misdemeanor count of driving without a valid license, among other charges.

At the time of her plea, prosecutors argued that Calderon should serve time in state prison instead getting the court’s offer of jail and probation.

She was sentenced at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.

—Kevin Ueda