A man who drove drunk and crashed a car into a traffic pole in Poway, killing his passenger, was sentenced Wednesday to six years in state prison.
Jordan Bourassa, 24, had a blood-alcohol level of .33% — over four times the legal driving limit in California — a few hours after the May 25, 2022, crash that killed 30-year-old Gage Ponder, according to Deputy District Attorney Taylor Morrison.
He pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and DUI causing injury.
Bourassa was driving east on Twin Peaks Road, near Community Road, just before 3:30 a.m. when the car went off the side of the road, crashed into a signal light pole and overturned.
Ponder died at a hospital. Bourassa was hospitalized for injuries sustained in the crash.
In court, Morrison said Ponder’s death was weighing heavily on his family with last week marking what would have been his 31st birthday and the sentencing hearing coming a day prior to the one-year anniversary of his death.
At the hearing, Ponder’s mother called the loss of her son “a useless death. There was no reason for this to have happened at all.”
Sharon Ponder told Bourassa, “When you are done with this sentence, I hope when you wake up in the morning — Gage doesn’t get that opportunity — that you remember this and use your choices to do good for others and never, ever do something of this magnitude.”
Bourassa addressed the family, saying, “There’s not one day that goes by that I don’t wish that he’s with his family and friends and none of this would have happened. I realize that this is my fault for getting in the car and driving that night … I know that my words will never be enough, they’ll never bring him back, and I might not ever be forgiven … I can only say that I’m forever sorry for what I’ve done.”