A 22-year-old Smithfield man was charged with two counts of felony homicide in a crash in Yorktown last week that killed two people, including a pregnant woman.
Hunter Nelson Arnold, 22, was also charged with felony DUI, felony maiming, reckless driving and reckless failure to control, according to a news release by the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office.
The wreck, on Water Street near the entrance to the Colonial Parkway, killed the passenger in Arnold’s Dodge Challenger, James Leslie Stewart, 21, of Windsor.
The crash also killed the passenger in another car, Abigail Pedroza Navarro, 34, of Williamsburg. Navarro was 6 months pregnant at the time of the crash, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Aggravated DUI manslaughter — punishable by up to 20 years behind bars — is the typical charge stemming from a fatal crash fueled by alcohol. The counts of felony homicide, a form of second-degree murder, doubles the potential punishment, with each count punishable by up to 40 years.
Under Virginia law, felony homicide is designed for accidental killings that take place in the course of another felony. Though DUI is typically a misdemeanor in Virginia, the third within five years is a felony.
The crash took place at 8:15 p.m. on April 3.
Witnesses told deputies that Arnold was speeding in his 2016 Challenger and swerved out of control before hitting the 2015 Honda Fit driven by a 28-year-old woman. That woman was not seriously injured.
Arnold was hospitalized, but he was later released and is now being held without bond at the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones affected by this heartbreaking incident,” the sheriff’s office said.
Peter Dujardin, 757-897-2062, pdujardin@dailypress.com
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