Soap Opera Star Faces Felony DUI

Jensen Buchanan, a Los Angeles soap opera star who plays a socialite on the daytime drama The Young and Restless, was charged Tuesday by Santa Barbara County’s District Attorney’s Office for a head-on collision that left Camarillo resident Bradley Asolas with serious injuries.

Just before 6:20 a.m. on May 18, 2016, Jensen allegedly let her black Mercedes S550 drift across eastbound Highway 154 into the westbound lanes, where she hit Asolas, 56, head-on in his Ford C-Max, said a press release issued by the CHP that day. Asolas was extracted from his car with the Jaws of Life and treated for major injuries at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. Jensen, 53, suffered minor injuries. She was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on a DUI charge and posted $100,000 bail on May 19.

Buchanan faces two felony charges — causing injury while driving under the influence of alcohol and driving with a blood alcohol level of .08 percent or greater — and two special allegations — “causing great bodily injury to Bradley Asolas” and driving with a blood alcohol level above .15 percent — in the complaint filed by Chief Deputy District Attorney Mag Nicola.

Her arraignment is scheduled for June 22 in Santa Maria Superior Court.

In November 2015, Buchanan — whose resume includes As the World Turns, Another World, and General Hospital — returned from a 13-year acting hiatus to portray Judge Elise Moxley on CBS’s The Young and Restless. CBS declined to comment on the charges filed against Buchanan.