Man, 19, Gets 8 Years in Drunk-Driving Deaths

A 19-year-old Arleta man was sentenced Tuesday to eight years in prison for causing an accident that killed two people and injured nine others while driving drunk.

Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Raymond Mireles called David Solis Sahagun “a danger to the community” as he sentenced him for the Oct. 8, 1988, crash that killed Essie Sutton and Ramiro Juarez. The injured included three of Sutton’s children, her nephew and cousin.

Sahagun was convicted in March on two counts of vehicular manslaughter and two counts of driving under the influence of alcohol. He could have received a maximum sentence of about 12 years, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Dver said.

Sahagun was traveling 75 to 80 m.p.h. northbound on Arleta Avenue at Terra Bella Street at about 2:30 a.m. when he ran a red light and struck the passenger side of a car in which Sutton was riding.

The 38-year-old Pacoima woman and five other passengers were thrown from the car. She was pronounced dead on arrival at a local hospital.

Juarez, 18, of Arleta, a passenger in Sahagun’s car, died several days later in a local hospital after being kept alive on life-support systems. Sahagun and another passenger in his car were also injured.

Sahagun admitted to friends that he had taken acid and smoked marijuana the night of the crash, according to testimony. His blood-alcohol level after the crash was measured at 0.16%, twice the amount required to prove a case of driving under the influence, Dver said.