Charges are filed against man arrested in crash
The man arrested in connection to a two-vehicle collision in which one woman was injured returned to Yuma Justice Court on Thursday for his arraignment.
During the hearing, Justice of the Peace Gregory Stewart informed Lorenzo Alegria Zavala that a criminal complaint had been filed against him, charging him with two felony offenses.
Those offenses, Stewart continued, are one count of aggravated assault per domestic violence and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly instrument per domestic violence.
Zavala was arrested at approx- imately 5:55 a.m. on Tuesday, April 13, after deputies from the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office responded to a two-vehicle collision in the area of the 8700 block of South Avenue D. The investigation revealed that Zavala and the victim were involved in a dispute when the collision took place. The victim had just left her residence when she noticed Zavala had been following her.
Both vehicles were traveling southbound on South Avenue D when Zavala allegedly struck the driver side of the victim’s vehicle. As a result, the victim lost control and subsequently collided into a pole where she sustained several injuries.
She was transported to Yuma Regional Medical Center and remains in stable condition.
Although attorney Richard Parks of the Yuma County Public Defender’s Office was present to represent Zavala temporarily for the hearing, Stewart ordered that counsel be assigned to him at no cost.
Stewart also set Zavala’s bail as a $100,000 cash-only bond after being informed by prosecution that he had a history of violating orders of protection and that the victim had a valid order of protection issued out of Yuma County Superior Court at the time of the incident.
Zavala’s next court appearance is a preliminary hearing scheduled for 4 p.m. on April 23. His case, however, will likely go before the grand jury before then. If that does happen his next hearings will be in Yuma County Superior Court.