Man Pleads No Contest In Fatal DUI Crash On Highway 101 In San Mateo
SAN MATEO (CBS SF) – A 32-year-old Redwood City man has pleaded no contest to charges related to a fatal collision on U.S. Highway 101 in San Mateo in January in exchange for a sentence of no more than five years in prison, San Mateo County prosecutors said Monday.
Ramon Hernandez entered the plea Friday to felony drunk driving with enhancements for causing great bodily injury and having a blood-alcohol content over 0.15 percent in the Jan. 19 crash that killed Ivania Torres, a 50-year-old South San Francisco woman.
According to the California Highway Patrol, Torres was getting out of a Toyota Yaris that a Dodge Charger had rear-ended shortly before 1:50 a.m. that day on southbound Highway 101 south of Third Avenue.
A Toyota Camry driven by Hernandez then struck her and the Dodge, and Torres was pronounced dead at the scene, CHP officials said.
Prosecutors said Hernandez had been drinking in San Francisco prior to the crash and had a blood-alcohol content of at least .16 percent.
CHP officials said he and someone else who had been in the Yaris with Torres both were hospitalized after the crash.
Hernandez is set to return to court on Aug. 20 for sentencing. His defense attorney with the county's Private Defender Program was not immediately available to comment on the case.
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