Charges filed in deadly drunken-driving crash in Merced County

A Merced man’s alleged blood-alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit when he slammed head-on into another vehicle last week, killing a 67-year-old grandmother of 10, authorities said.

Prosecutors on Wednesday charged Victor Garcia-Santos, 29, with gross vehicular manslaughter, drunken driving and driving on a suspended license in connection with the March 30 crash outside Atwater that killed Elena Maciel-Garcia.

If convicted, Garcia-Santos faces up to 10 years in state prison, according to Steve Slocum, the supervising deputy district attorney who filed the charges.

Garcia-Santos was hospitalized following the head-on crash on Highway 140 near Central Avenue, southwest of Atwater. He was released from the hospital Saturday after undergoing surgery, according to officers with the California Highway Patrol.

Maciel-Garcia was pronounced dead at the scene, investigators said.

Sheriff Vern Warnke was the first emergency responder on the scene. Warnke told the Sun-Star the speedometer of Garcia-Santos’ Chevrolet Tahoe indicated the SUV may have been traveling at about 100 mph when he crashed.

Efforts to reach Garcia-Santos’ family were unsuccessful Wednesday.

Authorities on Wednesday confirmed Garcia-Santos’ blood-alcohol level was measured at about 0.15 percent, nearly twice the legal limit.

Slocum said prosecutors believed the evidence in the case supported charges of gross vehicular manslaughter and drunken driving causing injury. The evidence, as it stood Wednesday, did not support charging Garcia-Santos with murder, prosecutors said.

Slocum said it was too early to comment on specific facts of the case, but he acknowledged that the charges could change as new information develops.

“These are always difficult cases, and we want to be sure that the charges filed against a defendant are supported by the evidence we have,” Slocum told the Sun-Star.

Garcia-Santos also was arrested Feb. 7 on Main Street in Merced on suspicion of drunken driving, according to authorities. He has pleaded not guilty in that case.

Prosecutors have prepared a formal complaint in that case, charging Garcia-Santos with drunken driving and driving without a license, but the case has yet to be filed in Merced County Superior Court, authorities confirmed Wednesday.

Investigators also have said Garcia-Santos has another pending DUI case in Madera County.

Court dates in both cases had not been scheduled as of Wednesday.

Garcia-Santos remained in custody Wednesday at the John Latorraca Correctional Facility on $300,000 bail, according to booking records.

Maciel-Garcia worked for more than 10 years at Cebro Frozen Food in Newman. She is survived by her husband, Jose Manuel Arias Guerra, to whom she was married for nearly 50 years, as well as three children and 10 grandchildren, family members said.

Maciel-Garcia’s grandson, Jaime Arias, described his grandmother as “the rock of our family” and “an angel.”

The family could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

They have established a GoFundMe.com account to help with expenses at https://www.gofundme.com/fcws3rjg.

This story was originally published April 6, 2016 at 6:45 PM with the headline "Charges filed in deadly drunken-driving crash in Merced County."