Palm Desert Man Accused of Deadly DUI Crash Outside Coachella Fest in Court

A parolee who allegedly was high on heroin when he ran a stop sign and collided with a motorcycle, fatally injuring a man who worked at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, is scheduled to answer a charge of murder Tuesday.

Palm Desert resident David Robert Brennan was charged Friday with murder and DUI gross vehicular manslaughter for the April 20 death of 59-year-old Monte Gardner of La Verne, who was riding a motorcycle.   Gardner, a security officer for the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, died in the emergency room at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs about 20 minutes after the crash at Avenue 52 and Madison Street, according to Riverside County sheriff's and coroner's officials.

Brennan was being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the county jail in Indio, with arraignment expected Tuesday at the Larson Justice Center, according to jail records.

Gardner was riding south on Madison when Brennan, who was going about 60 mph in a Toyota Corolla, ran a stop sign at Madison and Avenue 52, sheriff's Deputy Donald Olson wrote in a declaration in support of an arrest warrant.

"Gardner was blindsided by Brennan and ejected from his motorcycle," Olson wrote.

Brennan had past arrests for alleged drug offenses and marks on his body "indicating he was an intravenous drug user," Olson wrote.

Brennan said he had used heroin for more than 30 years and used it shortly before the crash, and also had recently taken Xanax.  Morphine -- which heroin becomes when processed in the body -- and a prescription drug similar to Xanax were found in Brennan's blood, according to Olson. Both are depressants and cause drowsiness.

"Brennan stated he knows that driving while impaired can kill someone, that he thought he shouldn't be driving, and that he drove anyway," Olson wrote.

– City News Service.