Cathedral City man sentenced for fatal Palm Springs wreck
A Cathedral City man who was under the influence when he caused a Palm Springs collision that killed a passenger in the other car was sentenced today to nearly a dozen years in state prison.
Austin Ulshafer, 31, was initially charged with second-degree murder, but that count was dismissed last month as part of a plea agreement in which he admitted one count each of DUI gross vehicular manslaughter and DUI causing injury.
Ulshafer was behind the wheel of a 1994 GMC pickup truck that crashed into a 2008 Ford Crown Victoria about 2 a.m. on Oct. 11, 2016, at the intersection of Ramon Road and Gene Autry Trail, fatally injuring 23-year-old James Brown of Joshua Tree, said California Highway Patrol Officer Mike Radford.
Brown, the Ford’s passenger, died at Desert Regional Medical Center just after 11 that morning. Ulshafer and the Ford’s driver, a 25-year-old Indio man, were taken to the same hospital and treated for minor injuries.
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