Prosecutors in Orange County claim that a Los Angeles police sergeant killed a 19-year-old pedestrian while driving under the influence and neglected to stop or call the police.
The Orange County district attorney’s office has charged 40-year-old Carlos Gonzalo Coronel with DUI causing grave bodily injury and hit-and-run causing death.
Imanol Salvador Gonzalez was killed in the crash; according to the prosecution, he was struck while out on the street in the early hours of February 1 and was left to perish there.
Prosecutors said in a statement that Coronel failed to stop his truck to check what he struck. He didn’t dial 911. Gonzalez’s body was discovered in the center of Nisson Road by two individuals who were heading home from work that morning.
According to court documents, Coronel, a resident of Buena Park, was previously found guilty of DUI in 2011 after entering a no contest plea to DUI for either alcohol or narcotics.
Prosecutors said that Coronel drove to his girlfriend’s house in the hours following his alleged fatal collision with Gonzalez using his pickup truck. He allegedly instructed her to take a different route that avoided the hit-and-run scene when she took him home the following day. On the same day, he is also charged with driving by the Tustin Police Department’s crime scene where the hit-and-run is being investigated and looking up online to check if a deadly hit-and-run has been reported in the vicinity.
The public places the utmost trust in our law enforcement officials, thus it is unacceptable that a police officer who took an oath to protect and serve would hit a man while driving while intoxicated and then abandon him to die on the street. Todd Spitzer, District Attorney for Orange County, wrote in a statement. Imanol’s story did not deserve to finish with him laying alone in the middle of a dark Tustin street while the police officer who had struck him drove off. He was loved by his family.
Whether Coronel was still working as an LAPD officer was not immediately apparent. A request for comment from LAPD was not immediately answered.
Records from the Orange County Superior Court show that after entering a no contest plea to DUI in 2011, Coronel was given a sentence of three years probation, 80 hours of community service, and an alcohol treatment. That case was revived for a probation violation following his arrest in the February tragic hit-and-run. He reportedly received a 30-day jail sentence after that.
If found guilty on all counts, Coronel may receive a maximum term of six years and eight months, according to the prosecution.
