The Epoch Times reports that on Tuesday, April 11, a man pleaded guilty in Orange County Superior Court for his role in a crash in 2021 that killed one person and severely injured another.
Mario Miguel Hernandez-Lopez pleaded guilty to the felony charges of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence of alcohol, causing injury, and hit-and-run with permanent and serious injury. Hernandez-Lopez also faces additional charges of two misdemeanor counts of hit-and-run with property damage.
Court records indicate that on May 8, 2021, the fatal crash happened at Woodbury Road and Libby Lane intersection. Investigators say that Hernandez-Lopez was driving a white Nissan Titan pickup truck eastbound on Woodbury rear-ended a Toyota Camry at a high rate of speed. The force of the impact sent the Toyota Camry across the intersection and into two parked vehicles on the opposite side of the road.
Hernandez- Lopez’s pickup truck spun out of control into a retaining wall on the north side of the street. Once the vehicle came to a rest, the defendant attempted to flee the scene of the crash on foot but was quickly arrested by Garden Grove Police officers responding to the scene.
The 27-year-old driver of the Toyota was pronounced dead at the scene. A passenger inside the car was taken to the University of California Irvine Medical Center for treatment of their injuries.
In the case, Hernandez-Lopez faced a sentencing enhancement of fleeing the scene of a crash involving serious injury or death. Orange County Superior Court Judge Craig Robinson gave the defendant credit for the 1,406 days he has served behind bars.
