Sacramento man facing trial for canal crash that killed 3
A Sacramento man will face a jury trial in Butte County after he drove his car into a canal in April 2020, killing his two infant children and brother-in-law. He was also driving under the influence of alcohol, a blood test taken hours after the crash showed.
Colby Allen Brookman, 28, was held to answer by Judge Kristen Lucena after a preliminary hearing Friday in the Butte County Superior Court. Brookman has been charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and felony DUI, combined charges that carry a life sentence in prison.
On April 12, 2020, Easter Sunday, Brookman drove his pickup into the Thermalito Dam canal at the end of Grand Avenue, Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said in a press release.
Brook man’ s wife, J’lynne Stothers, was a passenger in front seat and three additional passengers — their two children, Arianna, 17 months, Ava, seven months, and Stothers’ brother, Matthew Stothers, 32 — were in the back seat of the 2004 GMC Sierra.
Evidence presented at the hearing indicated Brookman drank “numerous beers” during the day and had been told not to drive, Ramsey said. Two hours after the crash, a blood test taken showed his blood alcohol level was at 0.12 percent.
California Highway Patrol’s Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team investigated the crash and testified at the hearing.
The MAIT team determined via the pickup’s “black box” that Brookman was driving in excess of 80 miles per hour prior to the road ending at the canal.
Unable to stop, the pickup hit a fence and launched over the levee into the deep waters of the canal. The children were strapped into baby car seats in the rear seat of the pickup with Matthew Stothers seated between them.
A witness who testified at the hearing said he saw Brookman and J’lynne Stohers swim out of the water, while Matthew Stothers surfaced briefly before struggling and sinking back below the water’s surface. Butte County Search and Rescue recovered the bodies of Matthew Stothers, Arianna, and Ava from the canal’s water.
J’lynne Stohers sustained moderate injuries in the crash and Brockman was taken to Oroville Hospital with major injuries. Two days later he was booked into the Butte County Jail, where he is still being held without bail.
Lucena scheduled Brookman’s case for arraignment and jury trial setting on April 14.