Woman sentenced to 7 years in prison for fatal Fallbrook DUI crash

VISTA (CNS) - A woman who drove under the influence of drugs and killed a man in a head-on Fallbrook car crash was sentenced today to seven years in state prison.

Suzanne Faulhaber, 48, of Fallbrook, pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and methamphetamine possession in connection with the Aug. 24, 2020, crash that killed 55-year-old Martin Orozco.

According to the California Highway Patrol, the crash happened at around 1:15 p.m. that day, with Faulhaber's Ford Mustang veering into opposing lanes of traffic on East Mission Road, west of Red Mountain Dam Drive.

The defendant's car struck Orozco's pickup truck head-on, trapping both drivers in their vehicles, the CHP said.

Orozco, also a Fallbrook resident, was taken to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, where he was pronounced dead.

Faulhaber was also seriously injured in the crash and hospitalized.

She was arrested and charged in November.