SANTA CRUZ — A 29-year-old Salinas man who drunkenly drove into pedestrians and a Watsonville Fireplace Division crew on the Fourth of July was sentenced to jail Tuesday.
Rosendo Avila Aguilar pleaded no contest to a felony cost of drunk driving inflicting harm, with an added legal enhancement for inflicting nice bodily harm. The Santa Cruz County District Lawyer’s Workplace dropped a number of expenses, together with hit-and-run inflicting harm and hit-and-run inflicting property harm, along with a number of enhancements, in alternate.
Santa Cruz County Superior Courtroom Choose Syda Cogliati adopted suggestions specified by a Santa Cruz County Probation Division report, recommending that Aguilar be sentenced to a yr in county jail and 5 years’ probation. With time served and different credit, Aguilar is anticipated to serve a most of 73 days in jail, courtroom officers stated.
Cogliati stated some of these instances are troublesome for judges, who’re required to weigh the crime towards the probably affect of imprisonment on the defendant and their dependents.
“It’s robust whenever you’re making these selections,” Cogliati stated, addressing Aguilar’s circumstances. “You’ve obtained youngsters you’re supporting, you’re speculated to be a job mannequin for them and also you’re going out and getting so drunk that you’ve got this humungous, harmful, very important crash that injures folks, injures their property.”
These injured within the crash weren’t significantly injured, officers stated on the time. No group members gave sufferer affect statements throughout Tuesday’s listening to and Aguilar, who the courtroom supplied a Spanish-language interpreter, didn’t converse on his personal behalf.
Protection legal professional James McMillan stated his shopper had expressed regret and acknowledged his wrongdoing.
Assistant District Lawyer Alex Byers argued that Aguilar, who was unlicensed however insured on the time, ought to serve his time in jail, relatively than in jail.
“This was a very harmful occasion,” Byers advised the courtroom. “I recall when it occurred, studying it in my newspaper, days later. You’ll be able to think about what number of party-goers, revelers for Fourth of July have been on the market, on the road, within the buildings, within the parking tons. There’s hearth crews there, there’s a number of hearth items.”
Byers stated Aguilar examined at greater than double the authorized blood-alcohol restrict after he drove his pickup into a number of automobiles and a battalion chief’s truck. Firefighters have been within the midst of responding to a 9:15 p.m. small brush hearth in a vacant lot on Miles Lane on the time.
After his crash, Aguilar reportedly backed his truck up, putting a number of extra parked vehicles, a firefighter, and two pedestrians — one twice, in line with Byers.
Bystanders who had gathered within the space pulled Aguilar from his truck and bodily restrained him till cops may arrive, authorities stated on the time.
