Salinas Resident Sentenced For DUI Crash That Killed 1

SALINAS - A man was sentenced Friday to nearly a decade in prison for a DUI crash that killed one person and injured two others last year north of Salinas, according to the Monterey County District Attorney's Office.

Diego Gonzalez-Rodriguez, a Salinas resident, was sentenced to nine years and four months in prison for the collision on May 6, 2015, prosecutors said.

Around 8 p.m. that day, California Highway Patrol officers responded to a complaint that led them to the defendant and his friends, who were all drinking outside a home.

When the officers determined no crime had occurred, they told the men to not drive and left the scene, according to prosecutors.

About an hour later, officers responded to a car crash on Castroville Boulevard, where they learned Gonzalez-Rodriguez lost control of the car that rolled over, prosecutors said.

One of his passengers died and the two other passengers were injured.

The defendant was found with a blood alcohol content level of .15, which is nearly twice the legal limit, prosecutors said.

Under the sentence from Monterey County Superior Court Judge Pamela Butler, he is required to serve 85 percent of his time in prison before he is eligible for parole, prosecutors said.

-Bay Area News, image via ShutterStock