Casha Cheema of Irvine Held for Manslaughter After Hit-and-Run Death of Motorcycle Rider

Casha Cheema of Irvine was in custody today in lieu of $50,000 bail for allegedly leaving the scene of a fatal accident on the 405 freeway near Culver City, where the life of a motorcycle passenger was taken. Someone from Orange County with the same name as 25-year-old Cheema may have been talking about “small fender benders” in a YouTube video posted in 2009.

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Yuliana Gutierrez, 24, of South Gate, was a rider on a 2009 Yamaha motorcycle in the HOV lane of the 405 southbound lanes around 5:40 p.m. Wednesday, when a 2006 Toyota Prius in the No. 1 lane began “changing into the HOV lane over double yellow lines to avoid slowing traffic ahead of her,” according to the California Highway Patrol.

“As she began to move into the HOV lane, she did not see (the motorcycle) and sideswiped (it), causing (it) to be pushed into the center divider wall,” continues the CHP's preliminary report (via City News Service).

The Prius stopped and the driver checked on the motorcyclists before allegedly fleeing onto the nearby eastbound Marina (90) Freeway just as CHP units rolled up. Witnesses pointed the driver out, she was arrested and later identified as Cheema.

The unidentified 34-year-old Hawthorne man driving the motorcycle received minor injuries, but Gutierrez suffered major head trauma and died about five hours after the crash, according to the CHP, which booked Cheema on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and failure to remain at the scene of an accident involving injury or death.

Here is the video posted on YouTube titled “Casha Cheema Just a few small accidents:”

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