Six Year Sentence For Fatal DUI Crash

Any DUI charge in California is a serious matter, but if the suspect gets into an accident and anyone is injured, the charges can be even more serious. Injuries can not only add an enhancement to a DUI charge, but they can result in separate charges as well. One of those charges doesn’t even require that a person by over the legal limit, so long as they are acting impaired. The other charge covers being over the legal limit. It is up to the prosecutor’s discretion if the charges are a felony or a misdemeanor. Previous DUI charges and serious injuries, such as broken bones, can make the charge a felony.

News Channel 3 reports on a man sentenced to six years in prison for a DUI crash that injured a cop and a nurse.

Last month, 26-year-old Cruz Octavio Rodriguez pleaded guilty to two counts of DUI causing injury.

The charges stem from a collision on March 6 in the 33000 block of Cathedral Canyon Drive.

Officers were investigating an accident on Cathedral Canyon Drive when Rodriguez’s car slammed into a car involved in that previous wreck. He also crashed into a Cathedral City Police Department car.

A nurse who was helping those involved in the previous crash suffered from moderate injuries. A police officer suffered from minor injuries. A suspect who was in the back of the police car also complained of pain.

Rodriguez was taken into custody at the scene.

At the time of the crash, Rodriguez was on probation for two prior misdemeanor DUI charges.

On December 14th, Rodriguez was sentenced to six years in prison for the charges.

 

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