Crime & Safety
PV High Student Killed by Suspected Drunk Driver
Sean Heffernan, a student at Palos Verdes High School, is struck and killed by a car. The car's driver later failed a field sobriety test, authorities said.
A 17-year-old boy killed by a suspected drunk driver Friday night in Rancho Palos Verdes has been identified as Sean Heffernan, a student at Palos Verdes High School.
Heffernan was apparently getting into his car, which was parked in the 30400 block of Hawthorne Boulevard—near Robert E. Ryan Community Park—when a Lexus headed southbound struck him and three cars at the curb, then veered left and went over the raised median, the Daily Breeze reported. Four female friends witnessed the collision.
Heffernan was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
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Lt. John Wolak told the Breeze that Rancho Palos Verdes resident Ho Seok Suh, 55, allegedly failed a field sobriety test and was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence.
Suh spent the night in the Lomita Jail and posted bail Saturday.
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According to the Palos Verdes High School website, Heffernan was on the cross-country team. Results from the 2012 Bay League Finals cross-country meet indicate that he was a senior on the junior varsity team.
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