Alberto Solano Diaz of Santa Ana, a 38-year-old convicted drunken driver, pleaded guilty Wednesday, May 15, to an alcohol-fueled hit-and-run collision that killed a homeless woman in April, according to the O.C. Register.
Diaz accepted charges of a felony count of hit-and-run with permanent and serious injury and one misdemeanor count each of vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence and driving under the influence of alcohol. He is set be sentenced on June 7.
An SAPD police officer who was on patrol found 40-year-old Leticia Marquez lying in the road, just past midnight, on April 24, on Standard Ave., north of Edinger Ave., according to the SAPd.
Police investigators determined that Marquez had been in a crosswalk but could not ascertain if she was crossing against a red light when she was struck by a vehicle. She was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
As it turned out other SAPD officers found unoccupied car that had major front-end damage, a couple blocks away from where Marquez was struck. Diaz, who showed signs of intoxication, was walking away from the car when the police officers detained him.
Diaz previously pleaded guilty, back in 2009, to misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of alcohol, driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit of .08 and driving without a valid driver’s license. At the time he was placed on three years of informal probation and he was ordered to pay $440 in fines and participate in a first-offender alcohol program for three months.
Diaz has since had his probation revoked and reactivated because he did not pay his fines.
