Man sentenced to prison for role in street race that killed an elderly couple in Coachella
A 41-year-old man was sentenced to three years and four months in state prison today for a 2019 street racing collision that killed two senior citizens in Coachella.
Angel Ramirez pleaded guilty in April to two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence stemming from the May 17, 2019, crash that killed Sofia Prieto, 74, and her husband, Jose Prieto, 75.
He was sentenced Wednesday morning by Riverside County Superior Court Judge Gregory Olson, according to spokesperson Brooke Beare of the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.
His co-defendant -- 31-year-old Estevan Jesus Donato of Coachella -- is set to stand trial on two felony counts of murder. His next court appearance is set for Oct. 10.
Sgt. David Morton of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department testified during Donato's preliminary hearing that a witness reported seeing two cars involved in a crash, an Audi sedan and Dodge Challenger, at the intersection of Indio and Grapefruit boulevards, about two miles north of the crash site.
The witness reported hearing the engines revving at the intersection before both cars took off, reaching speeds upward of 100 mph, Morton added.
The Challenger, driven by Ramirez, then hit the Prietos' F-150 as it was turning on Grapefruit Boulevard near Mitchell Drive, according to prosecutors. The Audi -- allegedly driven by Donato -- sped off but was later located after a witness reported the car's license plate.
According to a declaration in support of Ramirez's arrest filed by Deputy Ben McCoy, deputies responded at around 7 p.m. to the fatal crash in the intersection, where the passenger in the F-150, Sofia Prieto, was lying face down in the roadway with major head trauma.
Jose Prieto died at the scene, and Sofia died at John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio.
Ramirez was found unresponsive in the driver's seat of the Challenger, according to McCoy. He was taken to the Desert Regional Hospital with major injuries.
McCoy said that prior to the fatal crash, Ramirez drove up to Donato at a traffic light and revved his engine to indicate a speed contest challenge.
At the green light, they accelerated at a high rate of speed next to each other before reaching the intersection where Prieto was making a U-turn, according to McCoy.
Donato was subsequently interviewed at the Thermal sheriff's station and said he was just driving at the time of the collision and was not participating in a race, but saw Ramirez driving recklessly and causing it, according to McCoy.
McCoy said that because a video allegedly shows both defendants driving side-by-side at a high rate of speed seconds before the fatal collision, Donato was arrested and later charged.
Neither defendant has any prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
