SAN DIEGO (CNS) - An unlicensed driver who tried to evade police during a high-speed pursuit and crashed into a family's car in Mountain View, killing two young boys in the other vehicle, was sentenced Thursday to 30 years to life in state prison.
Angel Velasquez Salgado, 21, pleaded guilty to two counts of murder, plus other charges, for the Dec. 8, 2023, crash on an Interstate 805 off-ramp that killed brothers Malikai, 8, and Mason Orozco-Romero, 4.
The boys were riding in the back seat of a sedan that was rear-ended, propelled down an embankment and into a tree, where it caught fire. Two women in the victims' vehicle, including the boys' mother, were injured but survived the crash.
According to testimony from a three-day preliminary hearing held last year, the officers who pursued Salgado first took notice of a headlight out on Salgado's BMW.
The officers testified that after following the BMW for a short while, they saw it abruptly pull into a residence's driveway on 32nd Street -- and that a records check of the vehicle indicated its registered owner did not live at that address.
When the officers attempted to pull over the BMW, the car sped off and made other unsafe driving maneuvers such as swerving around other cars and running a stop sign.
SDPD Officer Jackson Carroll, who was driving the police vehicle involved in the chase, testified that the BMW's driver was "actively attempting to evade us" by frequently switching lanes, driving onto the shoulder and in an MTS bus lane in order to get around slower vehicles.
The chase spanned northbound Interstate 15, eastbound state Route 94 and southbound Interstate 805, where Salgado crashed into the victims' vehicle at the 43rd Street off-ramp.
California Highway Patrol Officer Richard Vargas testified that Salgado drove onto the right shoulder of the off-ramp and struck the rear right side of the victims' Honda. The impact sent both vehicles spinning down the embankment.
Deputy District Attorney Jessica Coto said that Salgado then fled the crash scene and as he "ran past the raging inferno" that was the victims' car, he discarded his clothing in order to conceal his identity.
He was arrested a short time later at a nearby residence.
The prosecutor called Salgado's flight a "brazen attempt to get away from the cops" intended to "escape accountability at any cost."
Along with charges connected to the fatal crash, Salgado pleaded guilty to hit-and-run causing injury for striking another vehicle earlier in the pursuit, and felony evading for a separate San Diego police chase that occurred about seven months before the fatal crash.
In the other police chase, Salgado was able to flee successfully from an SDPD motorcycle officer on state Route 905. Prosecutors say he was driving the same BMW that was involved the fatal crash.
Salgado apologized to about two dozen of the boys' family members who attended his sentencing hearing.
"I cannot begin to say how incredibly sorry I am for the pain I have caused everyone in this room," he said. "There is no excuse for what I did."
Some of the boys' family members chided Salgado for running from the crash scene and not stopping to help the boys after the crash.
Lisbeth Martinez, who was riding in the victims' vehicle, said, "You chose to save yourself instead of saving them."
The boys' mother, Victoria Romero, said, "My two little boys, Mason and Malikai, were my whole world."
Romero described Malikai as "full of curiosity and energy, always ready to help his little brother," while Mason had "the biggest smile and the sweetest heart."
Romero said, "I miss their laughter, their love, the sound of their feet ringing through the house. I miss the future we should have had together."
The deadly collision prompted calls to re-examine San Diego police policies regarding vehicle pursuits, and a wrongful-death lawsuit was filed by the boys' family that alleges officers should have terminated the pursuit in the interest of public safety.
In response to the crash, the city's Commission on Police Practices published a series of preliminary recommendations aimed at crafting a police department pursuit policy that ensures fatal incidents such as the boys' deaths, or last year's crash that killed SDPD Officer Austin Machitar, don't recur.
The commission stated that property crimes, misdemeanors and traffic violations were among the offenses that don't warrant pursuits and that officers should initiate pursuits only when they believe the suspect would pose an imminent threat to public safety if they weren't immediately caught.
The police department later responded in a written memo that outlined some disagreements with the committee's recommendations, including the recommendation to restrict pursuits to certain offenders.
"SDPD believes imposing these restrictions could negatively impact public safety, which is unacceptable to the department and the communities it serves," the memo reads. "These risks include increased reckless and dangerous driving being allowed without police intervention and fleeing from illegal acts that threaten public safety without fear of being identified and held accountable for criminal violations."
The department also stated that there was a correlation between "rising crime rates and restrictive pursuit policies" in other cities and states.
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