Murder Charges Filed in Fatal Crash : Alcohol: Vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving are also charged in the death of Adam DeJesus, son of MADD’s Los Angeles director.

Prosecutors filed charges of murder, vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving Wednesday against a San Jose-area man who police said was drunk when his Cadillac smashed head-on into a pickup truck on a desert road, killing the son of the Los Angeles director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Darshan Grewal, a 42-year-old lab technician with two previous drunk-driving convictions, was charged with causing the high-speed collision last Saturday on California 18 in the Antelope Valley just west of the San Bernardino County line.

The crash killed Adam R. DeJesus, 19, of Canoga Park, whose mother, Marcy DeJesus, is head of the Los Angeles chapter of the nationwide MADD campaign against drunk driving.

Shanya Roberson, 19, who was a passenger in DeJesus’ pickup, remains in fair condition at Palmdale Hospital Medical Center.

Grewal is in fair condition at San Bernardino County Hospital in San Bernardino, a hospital spokeswoman said. He was to be taken into custody today by the California Highway Patrol and transferred to that county’s jail ward, said Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert B. Foltz Jr.

The four counts filed against Grewal on Wednesday were second-degree murder; gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated; felony drunk driving causing death or injury, and driving with a blood-alcohol level of more than 0.08%, the legal definition of intoxication, Foltz said.

He said a blood test three hours after the crash showed Grewal’s blood-alcohol level at 0.2%.

Prosecutors will request bail be set at $250,000, Foltz said. The severity of the charges stems in part from Grewal’s past driving record, which includes two drunk-driving convictions, Foltz said.

Grewal acted with “knowledge that what he was doing was dangerous to life, with conscious disregard to life,” Foltz said.

At the time of the accident, Grewal’s driver’s license had been suspended and he was apparently driving with his brother’s license. He also was forbidden, as a condition of probation, to drink alcohol.

Authorities said they are still investigating what Grewal was doing in the area and other details of the case.

Becky Bearden, administrator of the MADD chapter in the Antelope Valley, said her group was monitoring the case and providing support for the victims’ families. Bearden said Marcy DeJesus had joined MADD not because she or someone in her family had been victimized by a drunk driver, but because she was concerned and wanted to help.

“This makes us aware that even for those who had been involved and not been victimized, the statistics are catching up,” Bearden said.