Background: News footage of the scene of the car crash in May that killed Braun Levi (KTLA). Inset: Braun Levi (Instagram).
A California woman with a record of drunk driving arrests was charged with murder in connection with a crash that killed a high school tennis star.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office charged 33-year-old Jenia Resha Belt with second-degree murder, according to a press release from the Manhattan Beach Police Department. Belt was taken into custody on Dec. 23, months after she was initially arrested on May 4 at the scene of the crash that killed 18-year-old Braun Levi. She is being held on $2 million bail.
Police said that Belt was intoxicated when she was behind the wheel of the SUV that struck Levi, who was walking with a friend across Sepulveda Boulevard in Manhattan Beach, California, at 12:45 a.m. on May 4. Belt was allegedly driving with a license that was suspended as a result of a previous drunk driving arrest from 2023.
First responders found Levi in the road. He was transported to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
According to court records obtained by the Los Angeles Times, Belt had a blood alcohol level almost twice the legal limit at the time of the collision. She was arrested at the scene after the four passengers in her vehicle fled. Belt was released from custody in June, but arrested again months later, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Levi was a high school tennis star whose family lost their home in the Palisades wildfires in January. They had just moved to Manhattan Beach four months before tragedy struck the family again. Levi's family started a foundation in memory of their late son.
In November, Levi's family filed a $200 million wrongful death lawsuit against Belt.
Belt is charged with second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, and driving with a suspended license. She is scheduled to be arraigned in Los Angeles County on Dec. 31.