A convicted drunken driver accused of triggering a fiery crash in South Los Angeles that killed two young children and their father pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murder, vehicular manslaughter and DUI charges.
Jose Manuel Garcia, 30, of Los Angeles is charged with three felony counts each of murder and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, along with one felony count each of driving under the influence of alcohol within 10 years of another DUI offense and driving with a 0.08 percent blood alcohol content causing injury within 10 years of another DUI.
Garcia was allegedly intoxicated when he ran a red light April 28 at the intersection of South Hoover and West 76th streets and struck a minivan carrying a family of five. The minivan burst into flames, and Juan Reynoso, 34, and two of his children, 5-month-old Sebastian and 6-year-old Emma, died at the scene.
Two other family members survived the crash, including a 9-year-old child who suffered major injuries.
Garcia was arrested that night by investigators from the Los Angeles Police Department’s South Traffic Division, and remains jailed in lieu of $6 million bail.
The criminal complaint alleges that Garcia has a 2011 conviction for DUI. He is due back in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom July 18 to get a date for a preliminary hearing.
If convicted as charged, he could face up to 82 years to life in state prison, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.