A 37-year-old felon will be sentenced in April for an alcohol-fueled hit-and-run collision in Santa Ana that left an 11-year-old girl with a broken hip.
Robert Romero Escobedo was convicted Thursday of driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury, driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08% or more causing injury, and failing to stop at a hit-and-run with injury, all felonies, as well as driving on a suspended license and concealing evidence, both misdemeanors. Jurors also found true sentencing enhancements for inflicting great bodily on the victims.
He is scheduled to be sentenced April 21.
The collision happened about 12:40 p.m. Sept. 21, 2021, at Fairview Street and Borchard Avenue, police said during the defendant’s preliminary hearing.
A witness told police Escobedo was tailgating and speeding and swerved into oncoming traffic in what appeared to be a road-rage incident, according to testimony at the preliminary hearing.
After his Chevrolet Malibu crashed into a Jeep SUV, he ran away and hurled a 40-ounce beer bottle over a cinder-block fence, police said.
A woman behind the wheel of the SUV had her 11-year-old and year-old daughters in the vehicle, police said. She suffered a broken foot and her 11-year-old daughter sustained a broken hip and leg and was bedridden and unable to walk for three months, police testified.
Escobedo was convicted in September 2013 of attempted robbery, assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, and theft with a prior conviction, all felonies. He was also convicted of misdemeanor resisting arrest.
Escobedo was convicted in August 2006 of robbery and driving under the influence of alcohol in April 2020, according to court records.