Cop leaves 19-year-old to die in street in DUI crash, California officials say
Carlos Gonzalo Coronel, 40, of Buena Park, who works for the Los Angeles Police Department, faces charges including drunk driving causing great bodily injury and hit and run causing a fatal injury, the Orange County District Attorney's Office said in a June 18 news release.
Coronel's current employment status with the police department is unclear. When reached by McClatchy News on June 19, the department said there was no comment or statement available.
The charges stem from a fatal off-duty Feb. 1 crash in Tustin, prosecutors said.
After a night of drinking with his brother-in-law, Coronel was driving home drunk in his black Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck at 3:41 a.m. when he struck a man 'walking in the street,' prosecutors said.
Imanol Salvador Gonzalez, 19, died in the collision, prosecutors said. Coronel did not call 911 or check on Gonzalez, who was found dead in the street by two people driving home from work minutes later, prosecutors said.
'His life was tragically cut short at the tender age of 19 years old by a hit-and-run vehicle,' said a GoFundMe established to assist Gonzalez's family. 'His family is devastated.'
After the crash, Coronel drove to his girlfriend's home, prosecutors said. When his girlfriend drove him home, Coronel instructed her to avoid the street where the crash took place.
Despite serious damage to the front of his pickup truck, Coronel did not call 911 to report the crash, prosecutors said.
Coronel later searched the internet for reports of a fatal hit-and-run crash in Tustin and drove past police investigating the death without informing them of the crash, prosecutors said.
'Imanol was loved by his family, and he did not deserve to have his story end lying in the middle of a dark Tustin street alone while the police officer who hit him drove away because his self-preservation was more important than a human life,' District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in the release.
If convicted, Coronel faces up to nearly seven years in prison.
Tustin is about a 35-mile drive southeast from downtown Los Angeles.
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