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Navy Master-at-Arms Charged With Murder in La Mesa Officer’s I-8 Death

Prosecutors cite a 0.16% blood-alcohol level and video showing no apparent effort to avoid the emergency scene.

Antonio Alcantar, 38, of La Mesa, center, accused of killing La Mesa Police officer Lauren Craven, when his vehicle hit her while she was rendering aid at a traffic collision on Interstate Highway 8, near Fairmount Avenue, Oct. 20, in San Diego, is flaked by his attorneys, Samantha Greene, left, and Dan Greene, right, during his arraignment on murder, in the San Diego Superior Court of Judge Euketa Oliver, Thursday Oct. 30, 2025. He was taken into custody and is on a $5 million bail. (Howard Lipin / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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Overview

  • Antonio Alcantar, 38, pleaded not guilty to murder and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated at his San Diego arraignment.
  • A judge ordered Alcantar back into custody on high bail, reported as $1 million by some outlets and $5 million by another, with a return to court set for December.
  • Prosecutors said Tesla video and the officer’s body camera show emergency lights activated and other drivers slowing as Alcantar’s car approached at freeway speed.
  • The district attorney argued the murder count is warranted because Alcantar’s training as a Navy master-at-arms made him uniquely aware of the risks of drunk driving.
  • La Mesa Officer Lauren Craven, 25, and 19-year-old De’Veonte Morris died at the scene, and investigators say the inquiry into Morris’s death remains active with no charge filed yet in his case.