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Oscar Pereyra is also named in a civil lawsuit filed by the family of an Arroyo Grande man killed in the 2020 head-on collision

A Santa Barbara man has asked a judge to reduce a criminal charge stemming from a fatal crash on Highway 154 that killed a San Luis Obisop County pharmacist two years ago. 

Following a preliminary hearing earlier this year in Santa Barbara County Superior Court, Oscar Pereyra, then 61, was ordered to stand trial on two felony charges — vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and reckless driving causing great bodily injury. He also faces two sentencing enhancements for use of a deadly weapon and having a prior felony conviction.

The charges were filed following the June 5, 2020, head-on crash involving an eastbound Toyota pickup truck and a westbound Hyundai Sonata. It occurred at about 10:40 a.m. near West Camino Cielo, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The Toyota, driven by Pereyra, crossed the double yellow lines and slammed into the Sonata before overturning and coming to rest on its roof. Pereyra was critically injured.

The driver of the Sonata, Michael Liu, 31, a pharmacist from Arroyo Grande, was declared dead at the scene.

Pereyra’s attorney, Adam Pearlman, has filed a motion seeking a lesser charge, arguing that the incident involved simple negligence, not gross negligence as he was charged. The prosecuting attorney, however, contended that the defendant's conduct was grossly negligent.

The criminal case is scheduled to return to Santa Barbara County Superior Court on Tuesday in Judge Brian Hill's courtroom.

Although Pereyra had several beers at a friend’s house in Solvang the night before the crash, he reportedly had no alcohol in his system after the crash, according to court documents. If he had tested positive for alcohol, he could have faced a murder charge.

He did have methadone in his system because he was enrolled in a treatment program that required him to avoid imbibing in alcohol, according to testimony at the preliminary hearing this year. 

Pereyra received critical injuries, and later had his leg amputated, according to a GoFundMe page created to help him raise money for an attorney.

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He also has been named along with Caltrans as a defendant in a civil lawsuit filed on behalf of the victim’s widow, Lin Lin, and their son, Levi Lui.

The lawsuit alleged negligence and gross negligence by Pereyra plus dangerous condition of public property against Caltrans. 

“On the morning of June 5, 2020, defendant Oscar Pereyra owed decedent Michael Liu a duty to use reasonable care while operating a motor vehicle. Defendant Oscar Pereyra breached his duty to decedent when he operated his vehicle dangerously, at too high a speed for the conditions, and lost control of it completely — immediately killing decedent,” the complaint stated.

The lawsuit accused the state of having an inadequate road design, inadequate guardrails, barriers, barricades or medians, and other flaws to create a dangerous condition.

A judge entered a notice of default for Pereyra, but the case against Caltrans continues to move through the court system.

Attorneys for the state contend that the road was not dangerous and have filed a motion for a summary judgment, contending that Highway 154 meets all design standards and that the lack of a median did not make the road dangerous.

The location of the crash has not had “a high frequency of similar head-on collisions so as to justify a massive construction project with severe environmental ramifications in order to install a median barrier,” the state’s attorneys said. 

“Furthermore, the state is immune from plaintiffs’ claims under the doctrine of design immunity. The design decisions regarding the median at the subject location were made by state’s engineers exercising their discretionary authority and were reasonable,” the complaint said. 

The victim’s widow and son have asked for general damages, special damages, statuatory damages and punitive damage along with attorneys’s fees and court costs, seeking more than $30 million.

The motion for a summary judgment is scheduled to be heard July 27 by Judge Thomas Anderle.

The civil case also tentatively is scheduled to return to court in August for case management and settlement conferences.

— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) . Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.

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