Man Released From Mental Unit Charged With Manslaughter in 4 Traffic Deaths

Felony manslaughter charges were filed Thursday against an unemployed auto mechanic in connection with a traffic collision last week that claimed four lives, two days after he was released from a mental hospital.

The suspect, David Columbus Hasson, 33, was hospitalized at the Augustus F. Hawkins Mental Health Center June 17 after his father and a friend told police that he had been trying to run people down in his car. He was released July 1.

Hasson is accused of speeding through an intersection at Hoover Street and Gage Avenue on July 3 and slamming his car into another, killing Michael Magee, 25, of South-Central Los Angeles; Sheneke Magee, 2; Duwane Magee, 11 months, and Ryan Waner, 3.

Lydia Tucker, 19, Magee’s fiancee and the mother of the three children, was critically injured and remains in the intensive-care unit at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood.

In addition to four felony counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, Hasson was charged with one count of felony driving under the influence of alcohol. If convicted on all counts, he could receive a maximum prison sentence of 16 years.

Hasson was expected to be arraigned today in Los Angeles Municipal Court, Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen Kay said.

Kay said prosecutors decided not to file murder charges because, based on the investigation so far, they cannot prove that Hasson “appreciated the risk involved in his conduct. . . .”