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19-year-old charged with driving under influence in Poway crash that killed father, son

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Steve and Stephen Pirolli
Posted at 6:00 PM, May 04, 2021
and last updated 2021-05-05 02:31:24-04

POWAY, Calif. (KGTV) — A 19-year-old man is in the custody of the San Diego Sheriff's Department, charged in connection with a deadly crash that killed a father and his son as they left baseball practice.

Sheriff's officials said Donald Lee Farmer was booked Tuesday on charges of gross vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence of drugs causing bodily injury, and driving without a license. He is being held on $250,000 bail.

The department said on Feb. 12, a Mercedes sedan collided with a Toyota sedan attempting to make a left turn out of the Poway High School parking lot on the 15000 block of Espola Road just after 7 p.m.

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The driver of the Toyota, identified as 54-year-old Steve Pirolli, died at the scene. Pirolli's 14-year-old son, Stephen, who was also in the vehicle was taken to a nearby hospital where he later died. The pair had just finished up baseball practice at the high school.

Farmer was taken to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

"In the weeks following the crash, deputies from the Poway Sheriff's Station's Traffic Unit conducted an extensive reconstruction of the incident. Based on their investigation, they determined Farmer was driving under the influence of drugs and had been driving recklessly," the department said in a release.

The San Diego County District Attorney's Office is prosecuting the case, according to sheriff's officials.