A man faces 20-year jail time in connection with the death of a 55-year-old woman last year in a vehicle-pedestrian crash in Santa Cruz, California. The Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office announced the culprit’s sentence during a hearing on Tuesday, June 9. The accident reports and court documents confirmed that the accused struck and killed Diana Crotty a year ago while driving under the influence of alcohol.
The DA, Jeffery S. Rosell, said the suspect, Alejandro Rocha Fernandez, 28, of Watsonville, would serve 20 years imprisonment at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Fernandez’s charge includes one count of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, resulting in the death of the 55-year-old woman.
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Court papers show that on June 5, 2019, drove out of a downtown Santa Cruz bar heavily intoxicated. He reportedly drove erratically through the streets at a high rate of speed until he veered into an alleyway and collided with the victim.
Fernandez fled the scene before law enforcement arrived, the Santa Cruz police said in the reports. The Santa Cruz Police Department officials eventually caught up with him. Toxicology tests revealed blood-alcohol levels almost thrice the legal limit for motorists.
Responding officers found Crotty’s lifeless body pinned underneath the abandoned vehicle, the accident reports showed. Deputies took Fernandez into custody on DUI-related charges. They later determined the suspect had two previous records of DUI offenses and was on probation.
Rosell said Fernandez would only be eligible for parole after serving at least 85% of his sentence.
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