A long time criminal investigator with the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office became the victim of a drunk driving accident on Thursday night. 53-year-old Laura Cleaves of Santa Ynez died at the scene from fatal injures sustained at the crash.

Cleaves was in her car on Highway 154, when her vehicle was struck by a Mercedes Benz driven by 22-year-old Ashley Johnigan. According to reports, Ashley had just been pulled over by cops on suspicion of drunk driving. As the cops pulled up behind the Mercedes and got out of their vehicle to talk to the woman, she sped off towards Highways 154. Just a few minutes later, the Mercedes struck the Dodge that was carrying Cleaves. According to the California Highway Patrol, Ashley illegally crossed the yellow lanes and struck Laura’s car head on.

After hitting Cleaves, Ashley reportedly drove on and hit a Ford. The driver of that car and Ashley suffered minor injuries.

Laura Cleaves was a highly respected supervising investigator at the Santa Barbara County district attorney’s Lompoc office. In a career that began in 1984, she served as a district attorneys office investigator, and dealt with complex cases that involved transgressions by public officials and theft. She had several famous cases to her credit. It was she, for instance, who did much of the groundwork that led to the conviction of Sylvia Vasquez, the day care provider who ran a foster home full of abuse and neglect. She was known for her dogged pursuit of cases that even federal law enforcement agencies had given up on. She remained to the end a devoted wife and mother. Her presence at the DA’s office will be sorely missed.

This was not a woman who, in any way, deserved to go out like this. Laura had many years of service left in her, and should have had the privilege of seeing her career through to retirement. She deserved to have the peace of a happy retired life spending time with the family – time that she missed when she was so nobly serving the county. Instead, she has gone before her time because a rash 22-year-old either didn’t listen to or didn’t care for the first lesson of driving on the streets – don’t drink and drive.

As we write this, Ashley Jernigan has been let out on bail. This is a woman who needs to be locked up for her own good, if not for others. She’s just managed to cause a horrific crash and a death, besides minor injuries to another driver and all in a night’s work. At the age of 22, she already has one death to her credit. If the investigations are not dealt with properly and Ms Johnigan goes unpunished, there will be more chances for her to cause more injuries and harm to others.

The California State Attorney General’s Office will be handling the investigation into the matter.