SANTA ANA (CNS) - Murder and DUI charges were filed today against a 28- year-old Buena Park man accused of driving drunk and causing a Santa Ana collision that killed four people last weekend.
Vincent Michael Calvo faces four counts of second-degree murder and single counts of driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury and driving with a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit of .08 percent causing injury, all felonies, with sentencing enhancement allegations of inflicting great bodily injury.
The criminal complaint alleges that his blood-alcohol level was measured at .29 -- more than three times the legal limit.
Killed in the two-vehicle collision were 31-year-old Jose Alberto Avila-Rosas, the driver of the other vehicle, and his passengers, 23-year-old Zimoara Zaragoza of Garden Grove, 23-year-old Antonio Alonso Santibanez of Orange, and 34-year-old Prisma Yuliana Montoya of Santa Ana.
Calvo, who is being held on $4 million bail, pleaded not guilty and was ordered to return to court for a pretrial hearing in the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.
Calvo was behind the wheel of a Jeep that was westbound on Fourth Street when it collided with a southbound Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck about 2:30 a.m. Sunday at Tustin Avenue, police said. Investigators allege he failed to stop for a red light at the intersection.
``Both vehicles flipped over multiple times,'' Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.
Calvo got out of the Jeep at the same time an off-duty firefighter and his wife, who is a nurse, stopped to try to help the victims, who were trapped in the pickup truck which caught fire, he said. All four were pronounced dead at the scene.
The firefighter was able to put out the flames and his wife rendered aid to Calvo, who was the lone occupant of the Jeep.
Police said Calvo, who appeared to be ``extremely impaired,'' was taken to an local hospital, where he was treated and released into police custody.