Drivers in two separate cases have been sentenced to prison for fatal accidents on Valley streets.
“Both of these crashes were preventable, yet the defendants’ actions caused irreparable damage to the victims and their families,” Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in announcing the sentences.
In the first case cited in a release from Mitchell’s office, Jesus Soto, 25, was speeding near the intersection of Union Hills Drive and 15 th Avenue when he collided with another vehicle early this year. The driver of the vehicle suffered a traumatic brain injury and later died, a Maricopa County Attorney’s Office release stated.
According to police data, at the time of the crash, Soto was driving 85 mph with his two nephews in the car.
Instead of helping his nephews or the victim, Soto fled the scene. Soto pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter and one count of leaving the scene of a fatal injury accident, authorities said.
He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
In another case, Eladio Hernandez, 33, was making a left turn onto 27 th Avenue in Phoenix when he failed to yield to two motorcycles, causing one to crash into the side of his truck, fatally injuring the rider, according to the MCAO release.