Man who killed four in a Santa Ana DUI crash pleads guilty

Vincent Michael Calvo, a 33-year-old man, pleaded guilty on Thursday, March 28, to a drunken-driving crash that killed four people in Santa Ana five years ago.

Calvo accepted four counts of second-degree murder. He will be sentenced on April 9.

Calvo was driving a Jeep that was proceeding westbound on Fourth Street on Feb. 17, 2019 when it collided with a southbound Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck at Tustin Avenue, police said. SAPD investigators said he failed to stop for a red light.

Both vehicles flipped over multiple times.

Calvo got out of the Jeep at the same time as an off-duty firefighter and his wife, who is a nurse, stopped to help the victims, who were trapped in the pickup truck, which had caught fire, according to the SAPD.

The firefighter was able to put out the flames and his wife provided medical aid to Calvo, the Jeep driver.

All four in the pickup were pronounced dead at the scene. Killed in the, two-vehicle collision were Jose Alberto Avila-Rosas, 31-years-old, the driver of the other vehicle, and his passengers: Zimoara Zaragoza, 23, of Garden Grove; Antonio Alonso Santibanez, 23, of Orange; and Prisma Yuliana Montoya, 34, of Santa Ana.

Calvo’s blood-alcohol level was measured at .29 — more than three times the legal limit, according to the criminal complaint.

Police said Calvo, who appeared to be “extremely impaired,” was taken to an hospital, where he received additional medical treatment.