Ex-California cop receives 13 years for crash that killed passenger, injured 2 others
A former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy was sentenced on Friday, June 16, to 13 years in state prison for causing an off-duty single-car crash in Torrance that killed one passenger and severely injured two others nearly three years ago.
Daniel Manuel Auner, 25, last month pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter, gross vehicular manslaughter and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon stemming from the crash, which killed Ashley Marie Wells, 23, of Redondo Beach.
Out on bail, he was immediately taken into custody at Torrance Superior Court following the sentencing.
When a reporter asked his employment status, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a brief statement on Friday that Auner resigned on June 7 after being on unpaid administrative leave.
Just after 12:30 a.m. on July 8, 2020, Auner, with four passengers, drove upward of 115 mph northbound on Crenshaw Boulevard approaching 190th Street and failed to negotiate a curve — slamming on the brakes, sending the Dodge Charger over a median with the passenger side pounding into a light pole, according to evidence presented at a preliminary hearing.
Auner was speeding with a friend who was driving alongside in a pickup truck, according to the testimony of one of the defendant’s passengers.
Wells, seated in the front passenger seat, died at the scene, while two backseat passengers suffered serious injuries requiring hospital stays of 10 and 22 days, according to testimony.
Speaking to the court, Lanora Wells, Ashley’s mother, described her daughter’s smile as dazzling, captivating, unforgettable.
She “made a difference in every life she touched and impressed individuals everywhere with her love, boldness and faith in Jesus,” Lanora Wells said. “Taken way too soon, she finished her assignment on Earth in her short life.”
Lanora Wells recited a Bible: “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
“I pray the Lord blesses Daniel Auner,” Lanora Wells said. “I have nothing in my heart against him.”
Family members for the victims said they were happy Auner received prison time. They had thought it was possible he wouldn’t get time due to his law enforcement status.
“I don’t get joy in seeing him go to prison, because it doesn’t bring Ashley or my husband back,” Lanora Wells told the court. Her husband, Duane Alan Wells, died of a cardiac arrest. She said she believed the grief of losing Ashley played a part.
The three women in the Charger were friends. Injured in the crash were Sarina Ferlazzo and Lexi Benjamin. In the courtroom, Ferlazzo read a poem she wrote to Ashley Wells, while Benjamin video-recorded a statement for the court, saying she’s still afraid to get in cars and suffers anxiety when she hears sirens:
“This accident will always be with me. I will never be over the trauma I’ve suffered.”
Francyne Ferlazzo, Sarina’s mother, told the court she wanted to tell the true story of “speeding, drinking and reckless driving” and said her daughter trusted Auner because he said he was a police officer.
“I don’t think he even remembers Sarina,” she said.
Sarina Ferlazzo suffered a fractured pelvis and other injuries that left her with scars on her left arm and left leg. She was also left deaf in one ear.
Lexi Benjamin suffered a shattered femur, a cracked left hip, a cracked right ankle, a cracked rib and a lacerated liver.
Ferlazzo said she, Benjamin and Wells had never met Auner before the night of the crash. Auner and his friends joined the women at some point while they were hanging out and drinking at an establishment near the Hermosa Beach pier.
They went to Buffalo Wild Wings in Torrance and decided to continue hanging out at another bar in Gardena. Auner had driven himself while the women traveled by Uber. Auner offered to drive the group to Gardena, according to testimony from the preliminary hearing.
Auner and the man sitting behind him in a rear seat escaped with minor injuries. Auner denied drinking prior to the crash, Torrance Officer Brooks Wing testified during the preliminary hearing.
Diane Kleen, Benjamin’s mother, told the court said lost a year of her life because her daughter required so much care after the hospital stay all while working as a teacher on Zoom during the pandemic.
“It has a ripple effect,” she said. “It’s not just the victims, but immediate and extended family, friends and neighbors who cooked countless meals for us. My students did not get the best version of me.”
Auner was charged with murder and reckless driving on a highway causing injury. Those charges were dropped with the plea agreement.
That night, his blood-alcohol content measured at 0.077, just within the legal limit for driving, about two hours after the crash. Officer Wing testified that he didn’t smell any alcohol nor did Auner exhibit signs of being under the influence. He also said Auner told police he slammed his breaks and was caught off-guard by the curve in the road.
Auner, wearing a white dress shirt, a dark-gray tie and black pants, declined to offer a statement and kept his head forward, staring down through most of Friday’s hearing.
“We feel the tragedy on both sides,” Pat Carey, one of two defense attorneys, said after the hearing. “We feel for the Wells family and we hope this brings closure to them and the other victims as well as the Auners, who have also been suffering through this process.”
Ferlazzo, as well as other family members, said Auner never showed remorse throughout the court proceedings, and they felt relief after his sentencing.
“I’m happy it’s over,” Ferlazzo said outside of the courtroom.