Overview
- Lukas McHargue, 24, was arrested in Oceanside on Wednesday, July 15, and booked into the Orange County Jail on one count of murder where he is being held without bail.
- The charge follows an April 15 crash on Pacific Coast Highway south of Warner Avenue in which Heather Lewis’s car was rear-ended, sent into the Bolsa Chica Wetlands, submerged and later led to her death at a hospital.
- Huntington Beach investigators say evidence shows McHargue was driving at more than 100 mph shortly before the collision and that he had a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit and had used marijuana.
- Police say McHargue had been repeatedly warned about the deadly risks of impaired driving and that those warnings, together with the speed and intoxication findings, satisfy the DA’s standard that he knowingly disregarded the danger to human life.
- Huntington Beach police are asking anyone who saw the crash or events leading up to it to contact investigators and the case will continue through arraignment and criminal prosecution.