Local man sentenced for DUI wheelchair death

A Cathedral City man who was drunk when he got behind the wheel, resulting in a hit-and-run crash that killed a man in a wheelchair, was sentenced today to seven years in prison.
Randy David Merida, 27, pleaded guilty on Sept. 4 to gross vehicular manslaughter while driving under the influence and not stopping and reporting
the May 27, 2011, crash that killed 24-year-old Cathedral City resident Pedro
Cervantes.
The collision occurred in the 31-500 block of Avenue Maravilla around 8p.m., and Cervantes died the following morning at Desert Regional Medical Center, Cathedral City police Sgt. Corwin de Veas said.
Merida sped off after striking Cervantes, but a witness called 911 and provided a description of the vehicle. The tipster followed Merida to San Joaquin and San Jose Roads in the Dream Homes neighborhood, where the suspect disappeared before fleeing on foot into the desert, according to police.
Information provided by witnesses enabled investigators to identify and
locate Merida, who was arrested early the next morning.
Cervantes was born with spina bifida and had been in a wheelchair for about a decade, according to his family. In spina bifida, the bones of the spine do not form properly around the spinal cord.

De Veas said Merida did not have a driver’s license.