According to Sign on San Diego News, 20-year-old Reyes Miranda pleaded not guilty in a Vista Superior Court to felony charges of gross vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence causing great bodily harm in the death of his 17-year-old passenger, Gerardo Chacon, a junior at Vista High School.
Miranda was driving a 1990 Ford Mustang on East Vista Way near Mason Road, just north of Vista at about 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 8. According to authorities, he was drunk. The CHP said he hit a guardrail and bus-stop shelter before rolling several times.
Gerardo was not wearing a seat belt and was partially ejected from the car. According to the Medical Examiner’s Office, he died at the scene of the wreck from multiple blunt-force injuries to his upper body.
Miranda suffered moderate injuries and was treated at the Palomar Medical Center in Escondido where he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. He appeared in a courtroom Thursday in a wheelchair with a brace on his neck and back. Miranda’s bail was set at $200,000.
