Murder charge after drunk driving accident that killed Sonoma County Sheriff's employee

A Santa Rosa man has been charged with murder after he allegedly drove while intoxicated and caused a crash that killed a Sonoma County Sheriff's Office employee as she picked up her daughter from school.

Nhan Van Nguyen, 68, was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday morning in Sonoma County Superior Court in Santa Rosa, where prosecutors also charged him with involuntary manslaughter, personal injury by drunken driving and driving without a valid license.

The charges stem from a Friday afternoon collision involving 31-year-old Jessica Avila Muñoz at the corner of Lombardi Court and Sebastopol Road.

Nguyen is scheduled to appear before Judge Dana Simonds.

According to authorities, Avila was the single mother of a 13-year-old and worked as a youth counselor at the Sonoma County Juvenile Correctional Center.

According to Santa Rosa police, Avila turned left from Lombardi onto eastbound Sebastopol while Nguyen was traveling westbound on Lombardi. He is suspected of running a red light in a Dodge pickup truck and colliding with Avila's Honda.

According to police, the impact caused the Honda to collide with a Toyota Prius that was traveling eastbound at a red light in Sebastopol. The driver was uninjured.

Emergency services took Avila and Nguyen to a hospital, where Avila was pronounced dead and Nguyen was arrested after treatment.

According to investigators, Nguyen did not have a valid driver's license.

According to Sonoma County court records, he has been convicted of drunken driving four times since 1991, most recently in May 2016. Each conviction was considered a misdemeanor, and Nguyen pleaded no contest in all cases.

According to records, he was arrested several times for driving without a valid license.

This story is developing. Check back later for updates.

Reach staff writer Colin Atagi at [email protected]. Follow on Twitter @colin_atagi