A man has been sentenced to four years in prison for a DUI crash near Delano that killed one of his passengers.
Fidel Habana Vargas, 36, received the sentence Tuesday after pleading no contest to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, the District Attorney’s Office said.
The May 7 collision at Wallace Road and Cecil Avenue killed 24-year-old Oliver Campuzano Villalva, who was riding in the front seat of Vargas’ Toyota Camry. Vargas and a rear passenger were injured, as was the driver of the van that struck the Camry.
According to the California Highway Patrol, Vargas admitted he briefly looked down at his phone’s GPS and didn’t have time to stop at the intersection’s stop sign. Breath tests recorded his blood-alcohol level at 0.092 and 0.095%, above the legal limit of 0.080%.
Vargas also told officers he had consumed an 18-pack of Modelo and used a small amount of methamphetamine the previous day.
He reported driving about 60 mph southbound on Wallace Road when he entered the intersection. The van’s driver said he was traveling east on Cecil Avenue at roughly 55 mph, according to the CHP reports.
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