Student pleads not guilty

An Orange Coast College student pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that he drunkenly drove his Toyota Tundra through a red light Sunday in Costa Mesa and broadsided another car, killing its passenger.

Gustavo Adrian Vega, 22, of Costa Mesa, faces up to 15 years to life in prison for allegedly killing Cara Lee, 20, also from Costa Mesa, when his truck slammed into a Toyota Corolla at Sunflower Avenue and Sakioka Drive.

Vega’s accused of having a blood-alcohol level of 0.17, more than twice the legal limit, when, authorities said, he first hit a car in Santa Ana and then sped south on Flower Street into Costa Mesa, crashing about 2:38 a.m.

Vega is also charged with possessing cocaine and running from the first crash in Santa Ana. He is charged with murder because of a 2006 DUI conviction, where he also ran from the scene of the crash. Prosecutors claim in Sunday’s incident that Vega ran from his truck after the crash and was arrested a short distance away in an apartment complex.

Costa Mesa police said the driver of the Corolla was drunk, too. Officers arrested Hao Nguyen, 21, of Santa Ana, on suspicion of DUI.

Lee was the only child of Randy and Jackie Lee. She was pursuing a modeling career while going to community college and, in her spare time, was a recreational youth leader in Newport Beach, prosecutors said. She survived a bout with cancer when she was 17.

Vega is being held in Orange County Jail in lieu of $1-million bail and is scheduled to have a pretrial hearing March 24 at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach.