Man charged with murder in deadly Venice Beach crash

[News_Editor]

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (BNO NEWS) -- A Colorado man was charged Tuesday with one count of murder and nearly three dozen other charges after he allegedly drove his car into pedestrians walking at the famed Venice Beach Boardwalk in California, killing an Italian woman on her honeymoon.

Nathan Louis Campbell, 38, pleaded not guilty when he was arraigned at the Airport Courthouse in Los Angeles on early Tuesday afternoon. He has been charged with one count of murder, seventeen counts of hit-and-run and sixteen counts of assault with a deadly weapon, referring to the vehicle.

According to prosecutors, Campbell drove his 2008 Dodge Avenger onto the popular Venice boardwalk shortly before 6 p.m. local time on Saturday. He allegedly drove on Dudley Avenue and sped south near Sunset Avenue, killing 32-year-old Italian tourist Alice Gruppioni who was on her honeymoon. Sixteen other people, including Gruppioni's new husband Christian Casadei, were injured.

"A tragedy, there's nothing more to say," Casadei was previously quoted as saying by Italian media. "We were walking around strolling. We were happy, on our honeymoon, and suddenly everything changed. I still cannot believe and do not even remember exactly what happened, it's all very confusing."

Police said Campbell abandoned the vehicle at Ocean Park Boulevard and Beverly Avenue and turned himself into Santa Monica police about two hours later. He remained in custody on Tuesday after his bail was set at $1.48 million, and he could face life imprisonment if convicted of all charges.

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[GentlemanJim]

I find it astonishing that the guy was even offered bail under the circumstances. $1.48 mill to do a runner and avoid a complete life sentence in a US max security would seem a bargain to me.

[hanno]

I find it astonishing that the guy was even offered bail under the circumstances. $1.48 mill to do a runner and avoid a complete life sentence in a US max security would seem a bargain to me.

Well, there is probably no way he can raise that sort of money.

[Credo]

In cases such as this, the bail is usually set too high for a person to be able to make it and for anyone with 1/2 a brain to be willing to help them out.

If bail is granted, these people do not have a passport and they are watched a little more carefully than in some of the countries that posters here are familiar with.