DANA POINT – After three drunken driving convictions, Haitham Gamal appeared ready to change.

The Dana Point resident completed an intensive rehabilitation program and vowed to do what his lawyer said so many DUI offenders won’t: adhere to his court-mandated driver’s license suspension by selling his car and embracing bicycling.

But last week, even though he wasn’t doing the drinking, authorities say alcohol ended the 38-year-old’s life.

A 19-year-old man who authorities say was speeding and had been drinking struck Gamal with his 2001 Acura on Pacific Coast Highway as Gamal rode his bicycle south between Blue Lantern and Green Lantern streets at about 11:15 p.m. on April 29. Gamal, who friends say worked at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort, was pronounced dead at the scene.

“He was doing the right thing, and somebody hit him that had been drinking,” said Walter Cole, a Newport Beach lawyer hired by Gamal.

The crash occurred one day after Gamal pleaded guilty to a January 2013 DUI in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana. Cole was at his side.

The longtime DUI lawyer learned of his client’s death when he read a May 1 news article about the crash, which is still under investigation, said Lt. Jeff Hallock, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. The department has not released the suspect’s name.

Hallock said detectives are awaiting blood-test results before they send their investigation to the district attorney’s office for possible criminal charges.

The Acura flipped on its top after hitting Gamal, and the driver and his 18-year-old passenger were treated for head trauma at Mission Hospital. Capt. Steve Concialdi, spokesman for the Orange County Fire Authority, said the injuries were moderate but not life-threatening.

Cole said Gamal leaves behind a wife and young children. He said Gamal differed from other drunken drivers he has represented because he accepted his problem and seemed to genuinely want to change.

“A lot of my clients are in denial. … He wasn’t,” Cole said. “He was on the road to recovery.”

Hallock described the case as an “unfortunate accident.”

“Obviously, any kind of fatal crash that involves alcohol, I think, just speaks to the dangers of drinking,” Hallock said.

Gamal pleaded guilty to DUI in 2005 and again in 2009. The second conviction earned him probation for three years, but court records show he violated it within a month of starting it. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor public intoxication in 2012, then was arrested for his third and final DUI about a month later.

He was sentenced the day before he died to five years of probation and 45 days in jail, of which he was to serve 20, followed by 45 days of home confinement. Cole said Gamal didn’t have to report to jail for a couple of months.

He also was to attend a Mothers Against Drunk Driving victims impact panel and complete an 18-month program.

Cole isn’t sure what to make of his client’s death.

“I don’t know, unless it’s just karma,” he said. “But I think a lot of times we’re approaching drunk driving the wrong way.”

Cole said Gamal responded well to treatment and was committed to improving his life. The 180-day program he completed “is a very good program” that focuses on treatment instead of punishment.

He isn’t hopeful that Gamal’s story will encourage others not to drink and drive. There’s just too many people who do, Cole said.

According to the California Office of Traffic Safety, 10 Orange County cities are among the worst in the state for rates of injuries and fatalities caused by intoxicated drivers. Nearly 10 percent of Orange County collisions in 2012 involved alcohol, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California.

“There’s so many of them out there drinking and driving that one little thing like this isn’t going to make a big difference,” Cole said.

Contact the writer: 949-492-5122 or mcuniff@ocregister.com. Twitter: @meghanncuniff.