Woman Arrested for Killing Bicyclist While Under Influence of Prescription Drugs

By Martin Henderson

An Irvine woman who struck and killed a bicyclist from Rancho Santa Margarita was arrested Tuesday and charged with vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, although she is alleged to have been under the influence of prescription drugs rather than alcohol.

The woman, Hasti "Hayley" Fakhrai-Bayrooti, 39, was heading northbound on Santa Margarita Parkway at El Toro Road on March 15 when she made a U-Turn at about 6:45 p.m. The Orange County District Attorney alleges, per the Orange County Sheriff Department's Major Accident Reconstruction Team, that Bayrooti's Acura drifted into the southbound bicycle lane and struck Eric Billings, 54, of Rancho Santa Margarita.

Billings was also riding southbound, just north of Trabuco Hills High. He died at the scene.

According to authorities, Bayrooti was detained and a DUI investigation was conducted; she was was not charged and was released at the scene pending further investigation and results from a blood test. After blood results indicated the presence of prescription drugs, the investigation was forwarded to the district attorney's office.

The D.A.'s office reviewed the case and filed charges of CPC 191.5(b) Vehicular Manslaughter While Intoxicated. A warrant was obtained for Bayrooti’s arrest with $100,000 bail. Authorities said she was arrested on Tuesday at her Irvine residence; she posted bail on Wednesday and was released from custody.

In an exclusive July interview with Patch's Pete Schelden, Bayrooti, an attorney, expressed remorse over the incident and said she had "suffered immensely" and had even attempted suicide by taking "everything in the medicine cabinet." She revealed during the interview that she was diagnosed with manic depression and had to take medication to function; she also revealed a fear that those medications could lead to criminal charges, as they did on Tuesday.

Bayrooti said during the interview she was not impaired by the medication, and was in fact preparing to go to trial the following Monday—the accident occurred on a Friday. She said she thinking about  the trial while driving and that caused her to miss a turn onto Los Alisos and force her to make the fateful U-turn at El Toro.

Bayrooti had two previous traffic citations in Orange County, a 2009 incident for exceeding the 65 mph speed limit, for she did not attend traffic school, and a 2011 incident for driving while using a cell phone.

Billings, owner of a small construction company, was a youth leader at his church, the Rancho Santa Margarita Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He was a father of four.

—Pete Schelden contributed to this report.