Fatal DUI suspect had been charged in prior wreck

A driver suspected of killing an Irvine woman in an alleged DUI crash over the weekend in Costa Mesa is also facing two misdemeanor charges from another accident earlier this year.

Brandon Alvarez, 22, of Anaheim is charged with two misdemeanor counts of hit-and-run with property damage for allegedly hitting a bus bench and a sign in Anaheim in January, according to court records. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in April and has a pretrial hearing scheduled this month.

The more recent accident occurred at about 10 p.m. Saturday, when he allegedly rear-ended a car stopped at Harbor Boulevard and Date Place in his 2012 Nissan pickup truck, said Costa Mesa police Sgt. Cameron Phillips. The driver of that car was uninjured.

Alvarez reportedly left the scene, sped north on Harbor and crashed into the driver’s side of a 2013 Kia Optima that was exiting the San Diego Freeway, police said.

The woman driving the Kia, Marcela Pacheco Garciaguirre, 23, of Irvine, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Garciaguirre’s passenger, a 26-year-old Irvine man, was transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Alvarez was released from a hospital Sunday, authorities said. He was then arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter and released on $100,000 bail, police said.

Anaheim Senior Assistant City Atty. Mark Logan said it’s unlikely that the driving-under-the-influence case would become part of his earlier misdemeanor charges.

“But it’s definitely an aggravating factor,” he said.

Rivera writes for the Los Angeles Times.

[For the record, 10:56 a.m. June 4: An earlier version inaccurately reported that Saturday’s fatal crash was a hit-and-run. In fact, the alleged hit-and-run occurred just before the crash that killed Irvine resident Marcela Pacheco Garciaguirre.]