Peninsula Man Pleads No Contest To Charges In Fatal Crash

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA — A 32-year-old Redwood City man whose blood alcohol was nearly twice the legal limit at the time of a fatal Peninsula collision earlier this year has pleaded no contest to charges related to the incident in exchange for a sentence of no more than five years, San Mateo County prosecutors said Monday.

Hernandez entered the plea Friday to felony drunk driving with enhancements for causing great bodily injury and having a blood-alcohol content over 0.15 percent in the Jan. 19 crash on U.S. Highway 101 in San Mateo that killed Ivania Torres, a 50-year-old South San Francisco woman.

According to the California Highway Patrol, Torres was getting out of a Toyota Yaris that a Dodge Charger had rear-ended shortly before 1:50 a.m. that day on southbound Highway 101 south of Third Avenue.

A Toyota Camry driven by Hernandez then struck her and the Dodge, and Torres was pronounced dead at the scene, CHP officials said.

Prosecutors said Hernandez was speeding in the fast lane at the time of the collision. Debris from the initial crash was strewn across multiple freeway lanes and several other vehicles had slowed or stopped, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Hernandez had been drinking in San Francisco prior to the crash and had a blood-alcohol content of at least .16 percent.

CHP officials said he and someone else who had been in the Yaris with Torres both were hospitalized after the crash. Hernandez is set to return to court on Aug. 20 for sentencing. His defense attorney with the county's Private Defender Program was not immediately available to comment on the case.

Bay City News contributed to this report.