A speeding driver who caused a 2017 Mecca crash that killed a woman and her 2-year-old daughter pleaded guilty Friday to vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving charges.
Joshua William Brown, 26, is slated to be sentenced Feb. 5 for the March 11, 2017, crash that killed Nancy Frias Zaragoza, 31, of Thermal, and her daughter Melanie Perez.
Brown was traveling at 80 to 85 mph when he tried to pass Zaragoza on northbound Grapefruit Boulevard in Mecca, causing her to veer into opposing traffic in the road’s southbound lanes, according to an arrest warrant declaration.
As he entered the southbound lanes to pass Zaragoza, he swerved back into northbound traffic to avoid a Toyota heading directly for him. As Brown swerved, his vehicle clipped the back of Zaragoza’s car, causing it to move into southbound traffic, where it crashed into the Toyota, whose driver sustained major injuries, the declaration states.
Zaragoza died at the scene. Her daughter died at a hospital about a month later.
The declaration states that “a review of the defendant’s driving record revealed a history of moving violations and excessively exceeding the posted speed limit near the area of the collision, which demonstrated a pattern of a negligent operator with wanton disregard for the public’s safety.”
Court documents state that in the months prior to the crash, Brown was ticketed three times for speeding near the scene of the fatal crash, including on July 4, 2016, for driving 75 mph on Grapefruit Boulevard, near Avenue 68; on Sept. 4, 2016, for driving 69 mph on Grapefruit Boulevard, near Garfield Street, and on Feb. 26, 2017, for driving 75 mph on Grapefruit Boulevard, just north of the Imperial County line.