A Los Angeles-based influencer turned herself in to authorities Monday after a warrant for her arrest was issued in connection with a car accident that killed a 44-year-old man last year.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department booked Summer Wheaton, 33, on suspicion of manslaughter and drunk driving, according to sheriff’s records. She was released at around 3:30 p.m. local time Monday after having posted a bond of $230,000.
Wheaton was named as a defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit filed in December by the family of Martin Okeke, who died on July 4 after a vehicle struck him on the Pacific Coast Highway.
Okeke’s family alleges that Wheaton was hired to attend a party at the restaurant Nobu Malibu, on the Pacific Coast Highway, and was “expected to consume intoxicants.” The suit, which also names Nobu Malibu, the Hwood Group LLC and DBDJ LLC as defendants, alleges that the restaurant had not received the proper city permits to hold the party and “were not complying with the City’s plans to control for the danger of drunk driving.”
Wheaton “was booked for the charges of Gross Vehicular Manslaughter While Intoxicated, Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol Causing Bodily Injury, and Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol with a BAC of 0.08% or above Causing Bodily Injury,” officials said in a statement posted to Facebook.
Direct messages sent to Wheaton on Instagram and through her website were not immediately returned. It is unclear whether she has an attorney.
Attorneys for Okeke’s family did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Representatives for Nobu Malibu, the Hwood Group LLC and DBDJ LLC also did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
The event at Nobu was supposed to be attended only by people who were being given rides by secondary parties, such as ride share services or limousines, according to the Okeke family’s suit. However, Wheaton drove herself from the party in violation of its rules, the suit says.
Wheaton “failed to keep a proper lookout, drove at an excessive speed, and made an unsafe lane change, causing a head-on collision,” according to the suit.
In a statement to the Los Angeles Times in December, an attorney for Nobu denied that the restaurant hired or contracted Wheaton and said that it abided by the city’s initial conditions for the permit.
Okeke’s family requested a full jury trial and is seeking damages “without limitation.”
Wheaton, who makes content about travel, fashion and faith for her 101,000 followers on Instagram, has not publicly addressed the crash. But in a video posted to her Instagram page in December, she reflected on how “the last few months have been hard.”
“You know that feeling when life seems like it’s all falling apart, but somehow it’s a start of something really beautiful?” she said. “Well, that was me.”
She went on to promote her $34.99 “faith-based planner.”
Elizabeth Maline contributed.
