| For Immediate Release Case # TBA
January 12, 2010 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
UNLICENSED DRUNKEN DRIVER TO BE ARRAIGNED FOR KILLING PASSENGER AFTER LOSING CONTROL OF CAR AND CRASHING INTO TREE
WESTMINSTER – An unlicensed drunken driver will be arraigned today on charges of killing his female passenger after losing control of his car and crashing into a tree. Vincente Garcia Ramirez, 23, Huntington Beach, is charged with one felony count of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated without gross negligence and one misdemeanor count of driving a motor vehicle without a valid license. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of four years in state prison. The People will be requesting $100,000 bail at Ramirez’s arraignment today, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010, at 1:30 p.m. in Department W-14, West Justice Center, Westminster.
At approximately 2:00 a.m. on Jan. 9, 2010, Ramirez was driving in Garden Grove with a female friend in the passenger seat, 22-year-old Joyce Lopez. The defendant is accused of driving under the influence of alcohol without a driver’s license after spending the evening at a bar and a house party, where he consumed several alcoholic beverages.
Ramirez is accused of losing control of his Nissan Altima after driving at an unsafe speed on Magnolia Street. He is accused of driving up the center divider of the road and crashing into a tree. Ramirez is accused of killing Lopez, who was transported to University of California, Irvine Medical Center and pronounced dead at 6:30 a.m. due to blunt force trauma.
Deputy District Attorney Susan Price of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
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