Drugged out driver facing felony charges for running into people and the Kohl’s store in Huntington Beach

SANTA ANA, Calif. – A driver has been charged with six counts of attempted murder for using his car to intentionally hit a group of people outside a Huntington Beach Kohl’s and then crash through the store’s front doors to hit more people last week. He is accused of being under the influence of drugs at the time.

Tuan Miller, 54, of Anaheim, was charged with six felony counts of attempted murder and one felony count of driving under the influence of a drug causing injury, one felony count of vandalism and one felony count of evading a police officer. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of all counts.

Miller made his initial court appearance on October 17 but his arraignment was continued to November 3 in Department W12 of the West Justice Center in Westminster.

On October 13, at about 8 p.m., a group of people were outside a Kohl’s department store at the Bella Terra shopping center in Huntington Beach to listen to a group of singers. Miller is accused of driving onto the sidewalk near the front of the store and hitting two women, who suffered minor injuries. One of the women was pulled out of the way by another bystander.

Miller then is accused of revving his engine and accelerating toward three other people. He hit one of the people, who became lodged in the front of Miller’s car as it crashed through the store’s glass doors.

Miller fled the scene and was later arrested.

“Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol has catastrophic and often deadly consequences,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “The decision to get behind the wheel while intoxicated by either drugs or alcohol is never the right decision. We as a society have to wake up and realize that driving under the influence is something we must take seriously – and when people made the decision to do drugs and get behind the wheel there must be consequences. Juries have become complacent when it comes to convicting defendants of driving under the influence of marijuana and other drugs and that has to stop. It’s not a matter of if; it’s a matter of when a repeat drugged or drunk driver finally seriously injured or kills someone.”

Deputy District Attorney Brian Perk of the West Justice Center is prosecuting this case.

Art Pedroza Editor

Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.

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