The San Benito County District Attorney’s Office agreed to
dismiss criminal charges of receiving stolen property against the
sole survivor of last fall’s fiery car crash that killed three
Hollister teens Monday, according to the girl’s attorney.
Hollister – The San Benito County District Attorney’s Office agreed to dismiss criminal charges of receiving stolen property against the sole survivor of last fall’s fiery car crash that killed three Hollister teens Monday, according to the girl’s attorney.
The 14-year-old girl, who the Free Lance is not naming because she is a minor, faced up to a year in juvenile hall for a misdemeanor charge of stealing the Jaguar the group crashed while fleeing the California Highway Patrol last October, said her attorney Arthur Cantu.
And while Cantu said the girl and her family are elated that she can now focus on getting on with her life, some family members of the deceased teens believe justice was not served Monday.
“This is a slap on the hand. What kind of lesson has she learned? We’re suffering the same way, we lost a loved one,” said Albert Hernandez, the father of 13-year-old Albert Andrew Hernandez who was killed. “We’re going to be punished for the rest of our life and she’s getting off. That’s not right.”
Cantu filed a motion to dismiss the charge Monday, which he said San Benito County Chief Probation Officer Deborah Botts agreed to and the District Attorney’s Office did not object to.
Cantu said the charge was tabled, and if the teen stays out of trouble for six months it will be formally dismissed then. But if she breaks the law in any way, the District Attorney’s Office can re-file the charge, he said.
“We are ecstatic,” Cantu said. “I filed a motion (to dismiss) in the interest of justice, consciousness and humanity. This is an example of a case that should not have been prosecuted.”
District Attorney John Sarsfield would not confirm or deny that he charged the girl or that his office agreed to dismiss the charge, and Botts declined comment also because of her age.
The accident took the life of Hernandez, 13, Armando Limas, 16, and Vanessa Jimenez, 13, after the group fled from a CHP officer in a Jaguar stolen from the mother of one their friends and crashed into a power pole at Fairview and Shore roads. The force of the collision launched the car into the air where it overturned and burst into flames.
The survivor was thrown through the windshield of the car and suffered a fractured vertebrae, facial lacerations, a collapsed lung and burns to one side of her body. She is still recovering at home from her injuries. The other teens were trapped inside the car where they died from smoke inhalation, burns and blunt force trauma, according to the coroner.
Limas’ mother, Karin Ordonez, could not be reached for comment and his aunt, Dina Garcia declined comment. Jimenez’s aunt, Lila Vasquez, did not return phone calls Monday. The owner of the stolen Jaguar, Wendy Cravens, also could not be reached for comment.
Hernandez’s father said he would have liked the girl to receive some time in juvenile hall as a punishment for an action that he believes took three young lives.
“It shouldn’t matter what age you are,” he said. “If you caused some kind of crime, you should be punished.”
The CHP’s initial investigation revealed that Jimenez and the survivor stole a 2001 Jaguar from Cravens while visiting her daughter sometime in the early afternoon of Oct. 4, 2004, picked up Limas and Hernandez and took the car on a joyride through Hollister and surrounding cities in the hours leading up to the accident.
However, the girl’s family denies the CHP’s claims and said the teen did not participate in the theft of the car. The survivor’s mother said Jimenez and another girl took the Jaguar and her daughter just went along for the ride.
The CHP determined Limas was driving at the time of the accident and fled from police either because he was trying to join a gang or because he was on probation and afraid if he was caught with a stolen car he would be sent to jail. The CHP’s Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team (MAIT) conducted an in-depth investigation into the crash, which the Free Lance requested a copy of through the California Public Records Act. A copy has not been provided yet.
After an officer pulled the group over for driving erratically late on the Monday evening in October, the CHP believes Limas – who originally was in the back seat but hopped into the driver’s seat when they were stopped – turned off the lights and sped away at speeds up to 100 mph before crashing into a power pole in the parking lot of Denice & Filice Packing Co. around 10:30pm.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or em*******@fr***********.com
