Crime & Safety
DUI Suspect Accused In Fatal Freeway Wreck Pleads Not Guilty
Rene Ruiz, 27, faces 15 years to life in prison plus five years if convicted in the deadly crash.
EL CAJON, CA – A Spring Valley man accused of driving under the influence when he crashed his car on state Route 94 near Rancho San Diego, killing one of his two female passengers, pleaded not guilty Thursday to murder and manslaughter charges and was ordered held without bail.
Rene Ruiz, 27, faces 15 years to life in prison plus five years if convicted in the crash Monday afternoon that claimed the life of Melanie Alexandra Feliciano.
Ruiz has a prior DUI conviction from 2011, according to a criminal complaint. Besides murder, Ruiz is charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence of drugs causing injury, hit-and- run with death, possession of a controlled substance and driving on a suspended license.
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According to the California Highway Patrol, Ruiz was behind the wheel of an eastbound 1999 Mercedes-Benz sedan that veered off the freeway for unknown reasons in the Casa de Oro area around 2 p.m.
The vehicle crossed onto a dirt shoulder near Sweetwater Springs Boulevard, hit a guardrail, became airborne and overturned, CHP public affairs Officer Travis Garrow said. After tumbling side over side across the median, the car came to rest on its wheels on the center shoulder of westbound SR-94, its roof crushed.
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At that point, Ruiz got out of the crumpled vehicle and ran off along with the 22-year-old La Mesa woman who had been riding in the front passenger seat, leaving Feliciano trapped inside the wreckage.
Feliciano -- who at the time of the crash was seated, unrestrained, on the center console of the car, between the driver and passenger seats -- was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
CHP personnel and sheriff's deputies searched the area, finding Ruiz and the young woman hiding in a canyon near the site of the wreck about 2:45 p.m., Garrow said.
Medics took them to hospitals for treatment of serious injuries both had suffered in the crash.
Ruiz will be back in court Sept. 28.
By City News Service / Image via Shutterstock
