A 52-year-old Costa Mesa man is scheduled to be arraigned Friday on a murder charge in a fatal DUI crash in Fountain Valley in February.
Kevin Cooper was charged Aug. 3 with one count of second-degree murder in the Feb. 26 crash just before 5 p.m. at Euclid Street and Slater Avenue that killed 54-year-old Thomas Leppin of Garden Grove, police said. The criminal complaint alleges Cooper had a blood-alcohol level of .27, more than three times the legal limit.
Leppin, who was driving a Dodge Caravan minivan, was pronounced dead at the scene. He was turning left from southbound Euclid Street onto eastbound Slater Avenue when the vehicle was struck by a 2022 Toyota Camry northbound on Euclid Street, police said.
Cooper, who was being held on $1 million bail, was arrested Wednesday, according to jail records. His occupation was listed as student. Cooper was scheduled to be arraigned Friday in the jail courtroom in Santa Ana.