A drunken driver whose car veered off a road in unincorporated Escondido and hit a tree during the Thanksgiving holiday a year ago, killing his passenger, was sentenced Wednesday to six years in state prison.
Ambruno Domingo, 23, pleaded guilty earlier this month to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and DUI causing great bodily injury.
Authorities said 33-year-old Juan Andres Ramirez was killed in the predawn crash last Nov. 24 when the Mazda sedan that Domingo was driving left the roadway on North Broadway and struck a tree near Paseo del Norte.
A short time later, another motorist happened upon the aftermath of the accident and saw the driver — Domingo — climbing out of the damaged car, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Apparently unaware that a second person was in the wreckage, the witness pulled over, picked up the injured Domingo and took him to Palomar Medical Center.
Emergency personnel later discovered the mortally injured passenger — Ramirez — inside the crumpled Mazda. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
— City News Service