Drunk driver who killed two teachers in Alpine sentenced to nine years in prison

EL CAJON (CNS) – A woman who was drunk when she lost control of her car,
triggering a series of crashes on Interstate 8 near Alpine that killed two
people, was sentenced Monday to nine years in state prison.

Sunny Hall, 31, pleaded guilty in December to two counts each of gross
vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in the June 11, 2012, deaths of 25-year-old substitute teacher and UCSD graduate student Angela August of Alpine
and 59-year-old Calexico teacher Jimmy Arevalo of El Centro.

The series of crashes that culminated in the double fatality began
shortly before 3 a.m. when August lost control of her eastbound 2009 Toyota
Yaris on I-8 just west of Tavern Road, according to the California Highway
Patrol.

The compact car went up a roadside embankment, then overturned and
rolled several times before coming to rest across the far left-hand lane of the
freeway, with August pinned inside.

A short time later, Arevalo pulled his Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck
in front of August's car and was standing alongside the damaged Yaris, talking
to the CHP on his cell phone, when Hall's eastbound 2003 Audi A6 plowed into
the overturned car and Arevalo, Deputy District Attorney Douglas Rose said.

August and Arevalo both died at the scene.

Hall's blood-alcohol level was measured at .15 percent after the
accident, nearly double the legal limit for driving, according to the
prosecutor.

Hall's criminal past includes convictions for drug possession, theft,
forgery, escape, bail jumping and four convictions for driving with a suspended
or revoked license.