Authorities are investigating the role that alcohol may or may
not have played last weekend in a fatal car crash on Highway 154.
Though toxicology tests are pending, 22-year-old UCSB graduate
Jessica Binkerd was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving this
week and faces the possibility of vehicular manslaughter charges
after her Ford Focus — while traveling south on the 154 around 2
a.m. Sunday morning — swerved into oncoming traffic with tragic
results. Binkerd broke her femur, while her passenger — 25-year-old
Alexander Baer — was pronounced dead on the scene from massive
internal injuries after their vehicle collided head-on with a Lexus
driven by 19-year-old Sara Maynez. Though Maynez escaped with only
minor injuries, her English bulldog, Corona, also perished in the
accident.
