A 24-year-old man was driving a car nearly 100 mph with police in pursuit and ran a red light in Santa Ana when he slammed into another vehicle, spun out of control and sent a pedestrian sprawling 60 feet to his death, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday.
Victor Manuel Sanchez is charged with second-degree murder and evading police in a chase that caused death stemming from the May 30, 2013, crash. He is also facing a sentencing enhancement allegation of inflicting great bodily injury on the victim.
Sanchez was driving 99 mph along Flower Street approaching MacArthur Boulevard just under two seconds before the air bag in his Dodge Charger was deployed, Senior Deputy District Attorney Mark Birney said.
Sanchez slammed on the brakes just before crashing into a stake-bed truck, reducing his speed to 74 mph, Birney said. The collision sheared off a wheel of the Charger as it started spinning counterclockwise into 33-year-old Andrew Reisse of Santa Ana, who was walking home from lunch at a local Chipotle restaurant, Birney said.
Reisse, who was a software developer for a digital gaming company in Irvine, routinely took Thursdays off to rest his carpal tunnel syndrome, Birney said.
The chase started when four gang task force officers went to a neighborhood known as “The Apple” to serve a search warrant on Giovanni Bahena and crack down on gang activity in the area, Birney said.
One of the officers noticed a man leaning into the Charger Sanchez was driving and grew suspicious, Birney said. When the officers in the patrol vehicle attempted to question the men, “the chase was on,” Birney said.
Just as officers were approaching the Charger, a fight broke out between an officer and 26-year-old Gerardo Diego Ayala, who was killed in an officer- involved shooting, according to Santa Ana police.
Sanchez, who had been convicted of a 2008 police chase that lasted nearly an hour and led authorities to Long Beach, sped through every “stale red light” and stop sign in his 10-minute, nine-mile pursuit, Birney said.
“What Mr. Sanchez didn’t do was learn his lesson and it cost this man his life,” Birney said, pointing to a photo of the victim.
At Warner Avenue and Shelton Street, Sanchez crashed the car into a truck, but no one was injured in that collision, Birney said.
“Another chance for Mr. Sanchez to recognize how dangerous it is what he’s doing,” Birney said.
The chase passed by four schools that were in session, Birney said.
“At no point is he trying to avoid anyone — he’s trying to get away and that’s important,” Birney said.
When the Charger came to a stop following the collision at MacArthur, Sanchez and his passengers, Jesse Segura and Giovanni Bahena — who were wanted on arrest warrants — all jumped out and tried to run away, Birney said. Police had to use a stun gun to help subdue Sanchez, Birney alleged.
Sanchez’s attorney, Gilbert Carreon, told jurors that much of the evidence and testimony in the case will go unchallenged.
“Please reserve your decision until the entire case is presented to you,” Carreon said. ” I expect to call Mr. Sanchez to the stand to tell you what he was thinking, what was going on.”
— Wire reports