Drunk Driver Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter

A Laurel man pleaded guilty Thursday to charges stemming from a fatal car crash in which the victim died after being in a coma for eight months.

According to the plea agreement announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Maryland, Carlos Arnulfo Chacon Chacon, 42, admits to driving drunk when his car hit another vehicle on Feb. 1, 2014.

Chacon Chacon was driving a Toyota Celica northbound on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. Two drivers called 911 when they noticed he was driving erratically, weaving across the road and swerving onto the shoulder. Before police could reach him, Chacon Chacon crashed his car into a Mitsubishi traveling northbound on the highway.

The victim’s Mitsubishi went over a stone wall and then went airborne, struck a tree and the car’s roof collapsed into the passenger compartment.

Chacon Chacon walked away from his vehicle and admitted to drinking six beers shortly before driving. A case of beer was found in the back seat of his car, which was not insured. 

The driver of the Mitsubishi suffered extreme head trauma and experienced cardiac arrest. The victim was hospitalized in a coma for nearly eight months until his death on Sept. 22, 2014.

Chacon Chacon faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison for manslaughter by vehicle – criminal negligence, and six months in prison for driving under the influence of alcohol, driving an uninsured vehicle, reckless driving failure to drive in a single lane. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 18.