Driver charged in couple’s deaths
Authorities believe he was drinking before February hit-and-run
SAN JOSE — A San Jose man was charged with murder in connection with a drunken driving hit-andrun that killed a Los Gatos couple in February, authorities said.
Craig Allen, 33, was arrested Wednesday and has been charged with two counts of murder in the Feb. 20 collision deaths of Christopher Durbin, 59, and Sandra Morse, 57, stemming from a car crash near Camden Avenue and Hicks Road. Another driver who was hit suffered minor injuries.
Allen was charged with what is known as a “Watson murder,” a legal mea- sure in which prosecutors argue that defendants with repeat DUI offenses or a proven history of extensive drug or alcohol use demonstrate a reckless disregard for safety when they drive while impaired. It is named after a defendant whose extensive DUI history and court-ordered rehabilitation was held up as proof he was acutely aware of the dangers of drunken driving.
Authorities did not immediately disclose what part of Allen’s background prompted the Watson charge.
Allen is scheduled for arraignment Friday afternoon. He is being held in the Santa Clara County Jail on $5 million bail.
The arrest and charges against Allen are the first time that a third vehicle was publicly revealed to have been involved in the crash that killed Durbin, a longtime musician, and Morse, a Los Gatos physician.
On the night of Feb. 20, Durbin and Morse were traveling southbound on Camden Avenue in a green 2001 Honda Civic when Allen, in a northbound black Ford Fusion, crossed into oncoming traffic and into the path of the Civic, according to San Jose police.
The two vehicles collided, and the Civic spun out and hit a Toyota Prius. Police say Allen then sped away.
This chronology revises an initial account that police offered in the wake of the crash, in which the Civic was described as crossing traffic lanes and hitting the Prius. Because the Ford Fusion was not at the scene when police arrived, the collision was initially described as involving only the Civic and Prius.
But an ensuing investigation, fueled in part by tips, led traffic detectives to suspect Allen and the Fusion, which was registered to his girlfriend, authorities said. Police gathered enough information to allege Allen was not only driving, but had been drinking alcohol, leading to his arrest Wednesday.
The Watson murder charges mean that the two deaths from the crash are retroactively the city’s 30th and 31st homicides of the year, which surpasses the total recorded in all of last year.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact Detective Verissa Sadsad of the San Jose Police Department’s Traffic Investigation Unit at 408-277-4654.