In the latest tragic drunk driving crash within the city of Livermore, a San Jose man has been charged with killing two siblings, aged 6 and 11, when he allegedly swerved out of his lane into oncoming traffic.
Cruz Montano Alduenda, 55, is charged with vehicular manslaughter in the deaths of Honesty Jenkins, 6, and Damarion Jenkins, 11, both of Fremont. He also faces two felony drunk driving counts with enhancements for allegedly injuring the victim’s mother and 8-year-old brother, who survived the wreck.
Montano Alduenda was arrested in June and is being held without bail. He has pleaded not guilty and is next due in court Sept. 8 for a pretrial conference, records show.
The charges stem from a collision on Highway 84, near Old Vallecitos Road, in Livermore at around 6 a.m. on Sept. 5, 2021. Montano Alduenda was hospitalized with injuries and was still trapped inside his Chevrolet Tahoe when police arrived, according to court records.
Police say Montano Alduenda’s blood alcohol level was measured at .1, above the state’s legal definition of drunkenness, and that he tested positive for methamphetamine. The California Highway Patrol’s accident investigation team determined he turned out of his lane, heading west, into oncoming traffic.
Damarion died from his injuries, but Honesty survived for three months until she, too, succumbed, according to media reports.
“This is a loss. … All of us, it’s just a lot. We’re such a tight-knit family,” the victims’ grandmother, Valerie Perkins, told the Pleasanton Weekly in a December interview. She later added that her family was praying for the Tahoe’s driver as well. “We pray for his family because for everybody involved, it was horrible.”
The deaths of Honesty and Damarion are reminiscent of two fatal drunk driving crashes in Livermore in 2015 and 2017, both of which resulted in children being killed. In May 2015, Brian Zachary Jones killed Esperanza Morales Rodriguez, 46, and her 14-month-old daughter, Yulida Perez-Morales, while driving drunk after attending a Livermore wine festival that day. He later took a plea deal and a 20-year prison term.
In 2017, Lauren Davis crashed her car while driving drunk in Livermore just six months after pleading no contest to driving under the influence, killing Alexys Garcia, 25, of Livermore, and Violet Campbell, 16, of Pleasanton. Davis pleaded no contest to second degree murder last September and received a prison term of 15 years to life.
Source: www.mercurynews.com