A man who drove under the influence of drugs and struck and killed a woman in El Cajon was sentenced Thursday to nine years in state prison.
Darius Watts, 24, pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated for the July 27, 2022, death of Niurca Rios.
Rios, 20, was struck just before 9 p.m. on North Second Street while standing on a sidewalk near an onramp to Interstate 8.
After officers responded to the scene, they received reports of a Hyundai Sonata stopped in the middle of the road on nearby Naranca Avenue.
Watts was found in the driver’s seat of the car and arrested. Police said that along with front-end damage, a traffic signal was found hanging from Watts’ vehicle. He had hit it just after running down Rios.
At his sentencing hearing at the El Cajon courthouse – attended by around 20 members of Rios’ family – Watts apologized and said he’s “cried until I can’t cry anymore” over the crash.
“I wish more than anything that the accident could be reversed and Niurca wouldn’t have lost her life,” Watts said. “When I am released from prison, I will still feel that never-ending pain I feel now. It crushes me entirely that a precious life was lost.”
– City News Service