California woman gets 11 years for DUI crash that killed boyfriend
After the Maserati slammed into a parked pickup and tree on a Del Mar street, the driver fled. More than a half hour passed before she called 911.
By the time Elizabeth Brooks made that call, first responders were already working to save John Fraser, the passenger she had abandoned. Medics rushed 62-year-old Fraser to a hospital, but he did not survive.
At the end of an emotional hearing in Vista Superior Court on May 27, Brooks was sentenced to 11 years in state prison for gross vehicular manslaughter and an allegation that she fled the scene. The 53-year-old interior designer pleaded guilty earlier this year, on the day she was supposed to have her preliminary hearing. She did not strike a plea deal; the sentence was left to the judge.
Judge Brad Weinreb rejected a request that Brooks be sentenced to probation. “I do think that society needs to be reminded that these actions have consequences,” he told the courtroom. “No one should get behind the wheel of the car in today’s age when they have other opportunities available.”
The crash happened just before midnight on June 18, 2024, on northbound Coast Boulevard near 20th Street, a residential stretch of Del Mar packed with homes just steps from the beach. According to authorities, the couple had gone out that night.
Sheriff’s officials said last year that deputies arrived to find Fraser’s 2019 Maserati Gran Turismo had crashed into a parked Dodge Ram, then a tree. They found Fraser in the front passenger seat and immediately started administering life-saving measures.
According to the prosecutor, Brooks, who lives within walking distance from the scene, fled. About 40 minutes after the crash, Brooks called 911.
According to Deputy District Attorney Min Yoon, two hours after the crash, Brooks’ blood-alcohol content was 0.26%, which is more than three times the legal limit of 0.08% for driving in California.
In court last week, Brooks apologized as Fraser’s family listened. “The shame and the guilt make it sometimes so hard for me to breathe,” she said.
“I relive over and over again in vivid detail that accident,” she said. “Etched in my memory forever is the last time I saw Jack before I left to get help. I wish I could rewrite history.”
Her attorney, Robert Schlein, said Brooks had accepted responsibility for her actions and is committed to her sobriety and recovery.
Yoon, who had lobbied for the maximum sentence of 15 years, said the event “was not a momentary lapse in judgment. … This was a series of conscious decisions she made that night.”
Fraser, a Navy veteran, was also the father of two children, a son who is now 18 and a daughter who is 22. She described herself as a daddy’s girl and told the judge that the fact that Brooks left the crash scene haunts her.
“She left him there on the road alone,” Jacquelyn Fraser said. “She didn’t call for help. She didn’t hold his hand. She didn’t stay. And because of that, my dad died without the comfort, love and dignity he deserved.”
She said Brooks’ actions “didn’t just take his life. It shattered mine.”