Man Sentenced 6 Years For Fatal Valley Center DUI Crash

VISTA, CA — An unlicensed drunken driver who fatally struck a motorcyclist in Valley Center last year was sentenced Thursday to six years in state prison.

Oswaldo Garcia, 41, pleaded guilty earlier this year to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in connection with the death of Kaulana Miller, a 26-year-old Valley Center resident who was hit by a pickup truck on May 16, 2021.

Miller was struck at about 1:45 p.m. by a truck making a left-hand turn in front of him from Irish Oaks Road onto Valley Center Road, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office.

He was taken to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, where he was pronounced dead about five hours later.

Garcia also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of being an unlicensed driver and getting behind the wheel while his driving privileges were suspended or revoked.

At his arraignment last year, a prosecutor said he was arrested in March 2020 and March 2021 for separate DUI offenses and released from custody each time. In addition to the fatality case, Garcia was sentenced for those two misdemeanor DUI cases, which also occurred in North County.

— City News Service