Salinas man pleads guilty to drunken driving death

A Salinas man pleaded guilty to driving while drunk when he crashed his car, killing a passenger.

The accident occurred on Sept. 11, 2016.

According to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office, 20-year-old Diego Jose Ramirez Rivera was driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.17 when he rolled his car on Old Stage Road near Iverson Road. There were three passengers in the car.

Two of the passengers were not wearing seat belts and were ejected from the car. One of the ejected passengers died at the scene and the other broke her leg. The third passenger, who was wearing a seat belt, suffered a leg injury.

“The California Highway Patrol’s Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team recovered the event data recorder or what is commonly known as a vehicle’s ‘black box’ from within the car. MAIT determined that Rivera traveled between 86 and 89 mph at the time of the collision,” said District Attorney Dean Flippo.

The speed limit in the area is 55 mph

A judge will sentence Rivera to seven years in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on August 9, 2018.