Woman accused of driving drunk and killing high school tennis star in Manhattan Beach charged
A 33-year-old Los Angeles woman who allegedly drove drunk and hit an 18-year-old man as he crossed Sepulveda Boulevard in Manhattan Beach in May was arrested this week and charged with murder, authorities said.
Jenia Resha Belt was taken into custody shortly after the early morning crash on May 4 and held on a probation violation but had not been charged in relation with the crash until Tuesday, Dec. 23, following an investigation by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
She was also charged with one felony count of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and one misdemeanor count of driving when privilege suspended or revoked for driving with a specified blood-alcohol level, said Pamela Johnson, spokeswoman for the DA’s Office.
Killed in the crash was Braun Levi, a nationally ranked tennis player at Loyola High School who had moved to Hermosa Beach with his family after they lost their home in the Palisades fire. The senior planned to attend the University of Virginia.
He and a playing partner had won four consecutive league championships in doubles tennis.
Levi and a small group of friends were attempting to cross Sepulveda south of Second Street when he was hit by an SUV police say was driven by Belt around 12:45 a.m.
Belt stopped the SUV and four others got out and ran from the scene, Manhattan Beach police officers wrote in a search warrant requesting to gather data from Belt’s phone.
Belt stayed and was talking with Hermosa Beach officers in the parking lot of the Hi View Inn & Suites when Manhattan Beach officers arrived.
Levi died at a hospital.
Belt told police she had one Moscow mule at a Hermosa Beach bar before getting into the SUV to drive, but she failed field-sobriety tests at the scene and was taken into custody, the document says. Her blood-alcohol content measured at 0.19%, more than twice the legal limit, police said.
She told police she tapped the brakes to avoid one pedestrian, then continued before seeing a second pedestrian and hitting that person unintentionally. She was driving on a suspended license after entering a plea deal for a hit-and-run in 2023, court records show. A drunk-driving charge was dropped as a result of that plea deal.
Levi’s parents, in November, filed a lawsuit against Belt seeking $200 million, with any proceeds planned for the Live Like Braun Foundation, created to honor the boy while raising awareness against the dangers of impaired driving.
Belt arrested Tuesday and being held in jail on $2 million bail, inmate records show.