Soldier involved in deadly crash arrested
Posted by
IB ContributorMarch 31, 2007 11:34 PMHe's charged with two counts of vehicular manslaugher.
A man who triggered a January car crash in Rialto that claimed the lives of two teen girls was captured in Kentucky and is expected to be returned to California soon, according to an article in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (http://www.dailybulletin.com/search/ci_5553373)
David Ponce Ledezma, 21, of Colton, who is in the U.S. Army and was scheduled to return to Iraq several days after the crash, has been charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, the article stated. The San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office issued a warrant for his arrest March 21, according to court records.
While officers said a strong odor of alcohol came from people inside the car that Ledezma was driving, investigators would not reveal whether blood tests showed Ledezma was intoxicated at the time of the crash. He was not immediately arrested because he did not show obvious signs of inebriation, officials said, adding that they wanted to rule out other potential causes of the crash first, such as mechanical problems with Ledezma's vehicle
Ledezma was driving on a downhill slope on Sycamore Avenue near Wilson Street at 4:10 a.m. Jan. 4 when he struck an upturn in the road and his 2002 GMC Yukon became airborne, officials said. The vehicle flipped, throwing Rachel Lujan of Bloomington and Adriadne Benavides of Rialto, both 17, out of the vehicle. The girls were not wearing seat belts. Both were pronounced dead at the scene. Three other people were injured in the crash.
Police said the group had been drinking in Lytle Creek with other friends before returning to Rialto. Ledezma had been hospitalized with injuries he received in the crash. But after receiving treatment at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, he was released and returned to military service. The arrest warrant popped up when Kentucky police pulled over Ledezma for a traffic infraction, according to the article.
If Ledezma was over the legal limit of blood/alchol and his state of intoxication caused or contributed to the accident and deaths, he deserves whatever he has coming, as does anyone else who may be responsible.
Call me if you need assistance holding a drunken driver responsible for the injuries they have caused.
Seat belt use probably would have saved the lives of those two girls.