A driver who allegedly was drunk and sped through a red light in Rialto, causing a three-car crash that killed two young girls, has pleaded not guilty to several charges, including vehicular manslaughter.
Alexis Garcia, 28, made his first court appearance Friday on charges filed by the San Bernardino County district attorney. They consisted of two counts of murder, two counts of vehicular manslaughter, one count of driving under the influence of alcohol resulting in injury, one count of driving with a 0.08% blood alcohol content or more causing injury, and one count of felony hit-and-run.
“Here we have yet another tragic DUI related death that was completely preventable and born out of selfish and reckless behavior,” Dist. Atty. Jason Anderson said in a statement. “Those two little girls should be writing their letters to Santa, but instead their family is dealing with the unthinkable task of writing their eulogies.”
Outside the courtroom in Rancho Cucamonga, the toddlers’ grandmother Lisa Avilez told NBC4 she was “angry a drunk driver took” her family.
“I have no words,” Avilez said. “We all want justice, and it’s not going to bring our babies back.”
On Nov. 24 at Riverside and Walnut avenues, police said, Garcia was driving a blue Dodge Ram pickup when he sped through a red light, hitting a white Honda Accord that was carrying four people, sending the car crashing into a tow truck.
Security cameras from homes on Riverside Avenue captured Garcia fleeing the scene in his pickup, sparks flying from his vehicle, according to police.
Among the four occupants of the Accord, 3-year-old Alinah and 4-year-old Neveah Flores, both in car seats, were ejected from the car and declared dead at the scene, according to police.
The other two occupants were their mother, Valencia Avilez, 24, and father, Marky Flores, 25. She was not injured and he needed medical attention for a broken femur, according to the family’s GoFundMe account.
Officers later discovered the Dodge Ram and Garcia a quarter of a mile away from the crash, where it appears the truck became disabled, said Rusty Lamm, public information officer for the Rialto Police Department.
Garcia tried to flee from the disabled vehicle, but a “good Samaritan kept him there” and called police, according to prosecutor Jamie Cimino.
The district attorney’s office said Garcia’s blood alcohol content was 0.18% at the time of his arrest, more than twice the legal limit for driving.
The sidewalk adjacent to the intersection has become a memorial of pink and white teddy bears, flowers, candles and balloons for the sisters. In front of the offerings are two white tires with Alinah and Neveah’s names on them, left over from a candlelight vigil Saturday organized by Streets Are for Everyone, an advocacy group that aims to reduce traffic fatalities.
The nonprofit’s founder, Damian Kevitt, said about 30 people who were related to the sisters attended the event along with 75 others from the Rialto community, including police officers and the girls’ mail carrier.
Kevitt said and Avilez and Flores did not give a speech at the vigil or say much to the community other than to thank people for their condolences. “You could tell they were still very much in shock,” Kevitt said.
From 2014 to 2023, the intersection of Riverside and Walnut avenues were the site of 32 collisions and one pedestrian fatality, Kevitt said, citing data from the Transportation Injury Mapping System.
Garcia is set to appear in court for his preliminary hearing Dec. 10.