A person who allegedly drove the improper manner down Interstate 15 in Serra Mesa whereas drunk and crashed head-on into one other automobile, killing a girl and injuring the sufferer’s teenage daughter, pleaded not responsible Monday to costs that embody gross vehicular manslaughter whereas intoxicated.
Andres James Cox, 25, is accused within the Aug. 28 dying of 32-year-old Yannira Rodriguez, who died on the scene of the 1:30 a.m. crash on southbound Interstate 15. Cox can also be accused of injuring Rodriguez’s 13-year-old daughter, who was driving within the entrance passenger seat.
Deputy District Lawyer Spencer Sharpe mentioned Monday that Cox’s blood-alcohol stage on the scene was measured at .18%, which is greater than twice the authorized driving restrict in California.
The prosecutor mentioned Cox “didn’t even know he was driving the improper manner on the freeway,” failed a sequence of subject sobriety assessments, and a drug recognition professional at a hospital concluded Cox was additionally below the affect of marijuana.
Cox has since remained out of custody on $500,000 bail.
Whereas Sharpe requested for Cox to be held with out bail, protection legal professional Michael Hernandez argued Cox has no prior legal historical past and didn’t current a hazard to the neighborhood as he’s presently enrolled in an “intensive” outpatient remedy program through which he’s repeatedly examined for medication and alcohol.
San Diego Superior Court docket Decide Theodore Weathers allowed Cox to stay out of custody on the $500,000 bail already posted, however set sure circumstances equivalent to prohibitions towards driving, necessities to put on alcohol and drug-monitoring gadgets, and to proceed his remedy.
After the arraignment, Rodriguez’s sister, Zulma Beckfield-Rodriguez, mentioned “I politely disagree with the choice that was made … Selections have penalties and I really feel that there’s extra that might have been performed to guard the general public.”
Whereas Rodriguez’s daughter underwent reconstructive surgical procedure for facial accidents she sustained, Beckfield-Rodriguez mentioned “Fortunately, there was no mind harm. There was no inside harm. For what the accident was, it’s a miracle she didn’t have extra accidents.”
Beckfield-Rodriguez mentioned her sister lately graduated from San Diego State College and was pursuing a grasp’s diploma in Enterprise.
A GoFundMe web page created to help Rodriguez’s daughter states Rodriguez “was a single mom who all the time put her daughter first” and “had all the time labored so laborious to be an amazing mom, supplier, and instance for her daughter.” The web page could also be considered at gofundme.com/f/yannira-rodriguez.
Metropolis Information Service contributed to this text.
