COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) – A man arrested after a crash that killed a University of South Carolina student earlier this year is now serving a prison sentence.
Public court records show Rosali Fernandez-Cruz pleaded guilty to a count of hit and run resulting in death on Aug. 11. He was sentenced to one year in prison, with credit for 131 days served. Records from the South Carolina Department of Corrections show he is scheduled to be released in March 2026.
The count was related to an April 2 crash in which Fernandez-Cruz hit 21-year-old Nate Baker while driving a truck at the intersection of Blossom and Assembly streets.
Baker, who was riding a motorcycle, died after being taken to a hospital. Originally from Virginia, Baker was a junior business major at USC at the time of his death.
Fernandez-Cruz, meanwhile, was later identified by authorities as an undocumented migrant from El Salvador who entered the country as a minor in 2016. He was also wanted by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the time of his arrest for failing to appear in court in 2018…