Repeat DUI offender arrested after fatally hitting pedestrian in Orange

ORANGE, Calif. - A man with four prior DUI convictions was arrested again after fatally hitting a pedestrian in Orange, police said Tuesday. 

Orange police officers responded to the 300 block of N. Tustin Street around 11:18 a.m. after locating a man lying in the roadway. 

Witnesses told officers that a pedestrian was crossing the street, outside of a crosswalk, when he was struck by a gray sedan driving northbound. 

The sedan fled the scene after the crash. 

The pedestrian, who has not been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene. 

Around 11:28 a.m., detectives located the sedan traveling north on Glassell Street at Katella Avenue. The driver, 31-year-old Jonathan Lopez, fled from officers, triggering a short pursuit. 

After driving for more than a mile, he stopped the vehicle at Tustin Street south of Adams Avenue. Lopez was arrested and transported to the Orange Police Department.

Police say he displayed "objective signs and symptoms of alcohol intoxication" and was arrested for felony DUI, felony hit-and-run, evading, and vehicular homicide.  

"I thought it was two cars impacted, that's how bad it sounded. But I didn't know the car impacted a person," said one witness. 

According to Orange police, in the last 10 years, Lopez had four prior DUI convictions.