A social media influencer is facing serious trouble after surrendering to authorities. According to officials, Summer Wheaton has been hit with a number of charges connected to a fatal car accident in Los Angeles last July.
The accident occurred last summer around 10:30 p.m. on July 4. Then, authorities said Wheaton, who’s known online for her lifestyle content and wellness advocacy, was allegedly driving while intoxicated. But things took a serious turn when her vehicle crashed into another car after an event at Nobu, according to the New York Post.
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Wheaton allegedly crossed a center median on the Pacific Coast Highway and crashed her Mercedes Benz into a Cadillac SUV driven by a 44-year-old rideshare driver, according to the Post. The driver, Martin Okeke, died at the scene. Wheaton and another passenger were taken to a local hospital following the crash, CBS News reported.
City officials said they denied Nobu restaurant a temporary use permit to host the Fourth of July event because the owners failed to comply with traffic and safety conditions, but the restaurant put on the party anyway.
In December, Okeke’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Wheaton, alleging the influencer was “severely intoxicated and impaired” at the time of the collision, according to ABC 7. The suit also named the restaurant and hospitality company, Hwood Group LLC, who hosts the annual July event at Nobu. According to the family, the 33-year-old “expected to consume intoxicants” and these two companies knew she was “unsafe to drive her vehicle, but still provided [Wheaton] with her keys and car.”
Several months after the fatal crash and a formal investigation into the matter, Wheaton was booked for manslaughter and drunk driving on Feb. 24, according to jail records. She also took to Instagram in December, breaking her months-long silence.
“The last few months have been hard,” she wrote. “You know that feeling when life seems like it’s all falling apart, but somehow it’s a start of something really beautiful? Well, that was me.”
Wheaton was released on $250,000 bond.
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