A motorist who rear-ended a vehicle on Interstate 15 near Scripps Poway Parkway, triggering another collision that killed a toddler and her grandmother, pleaded guilty Monday to gross vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run causing injury or death.
Grant Thoren, 31, will be sentenced to 10 years and four months in state prison on May 5.
Thoren, of Vista, was arrested at his home a few hours after he fled the scene after rear-ending — and disabling — a woman’s car on southbound Interstate 15 just before 2 a.m. last Sept. 10.
Jasmine Magat’s 2-year-old daughter, Keira, and the child’s grandmother, 64-year-old Lina Pelembergo Nebrida, were killed when the disabled Honda was subsequently hit by a Toyota Tacoma truck.
Thoren’s Cadillac CTS struck Magat’s sedan from behind, and the truck hit the Honda before help could arrive, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Jasmine Magat and her 5-year-old daughter were seriously injured but survived the crash.
Prosecutors were not able to prove that Thoren was under the influence of drugs at the time, so those allegations were dropped, said Deputy District Attorney Nicole Rooney.
The Magat family was in the process of moving from Temecula to the National City area when the accident happened, according to their pastor.
—City News Service