Santa Ana – A Los Angeles Police Department sergeant has been charged with hitting a 19-year-old pedestrian on a Tustin street in an early morning drunk driving crash before driving to his girlfriend’s home, leaving the man to die in the street.
Carlos Gonzalo Coronel, 40, of Buena Park, has been charged with one felony count of driving under the influence of alcohol causing great bodily injury and one felony count of hit and run with permanent injury or death. He has also been charged with one felony enhancement of great bodily injury.
He faces a maximum sentence of 6 years 8 months state prison if convicted on all counts.
Coronel is scheduled to be arraigned on June 27, 2025, at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana in Department C57.
In the early morning hours of February 1, 2025, Coronel is accused of driving his black Chevy Silverado pickup truck after a night of drinking with his brother-in-law. At about 3:41 a.m., Coronel is accused of hitting and killing Imanol Salvador Gonzalez who was walking in the street near the intersection of Nisson Road and Del Amo Avenue in the City of Tustin.
Coronel, who was on his way to his girlfriend’s home, is accused of not stopping his truck to see what he hit. He did not call 911. Two people who were on their way home from work that morning found Gonzalez’ body lying in the middle of Nisson Road a few minutes later and called police.
Despite significant front-end damage to his truck, Coronel never called 911. When his girlfriend drove Coronel back to his Buena Park home, Coronel is also accused of instructing his girlfriend to turn around to avoid Nisson Road, the location where Gonzalez had been hit. In the hours after Gonzalez was killed, Coronel is also accused of searching the Internet to see if there had been a fatal hit and run in Tustin.
Coronel is also accused of driving by the Tustin Police Department crime scene where officers were investigating Gonzalez’ death but not alerting officers to the fact that he had been in a collision at that same intersection.
“Our law enforcement officers are entrusted with the highest level of public trust, and it is unconscionable that an officer who swore an oath to protect and serve would leave a man to die in the street after hitting him while driving under the influence of alcohol,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “Imanol was loved by his family, and he did not deserve to have his story end lying in the middle of a dark Tustin street alone while the police officer who hit him drove away because his self-preservation was more important than a human life.”
Deputy District Attorney Austin Neiman of the Special Prosecutions Unit is prosecuting this case.
