Drunk Driver Sentenced to Prison in Death of 2 Students

A Canoga Park man whose car ran a red light and slammed into another car, killing two teen-age college students, was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison.

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Van Nuys Municipal Judge Leslie A. Dunn sentenced Hector Ruiz after the 22-year-old man pleaded guilty to two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in the Jan. 6 crash.

Barbara N. Paull of Chatsworth and Stephanie Tourikian of Ontario, Canada, both 19, were killed when Ruiz’s car ran a red light at Corbin Avenue and Roscoe Boulevard and sheared their car in half.

Area residents have long complained that the intersection is too dangerous. Paull and Tourikian, both students at UC Riverside, were killed at the same location where a 57-year-old woman died in an accident two weeks before.

Police reported that there were 15 accidents at the intersection in 1993. The deaths of Paull and Tourikian prompted police to crack down on speeders in the neighborhood.

Witnesses said Ruiz was driving about 80 m.p.h. on Roscoe when his car ran a red light and smashed into the car that Paull was driving on Corbin.

Ruiz had been drinking before the accident and had a blood alcohol level of 0.20%, which is 2 1/2 times the legal limit, authorities said.

“Seven years in prison was the best I could get,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Andrew W. Diamond said. “I sent him to prison, but that wasn’t enough. I want Barbara and Stephanie back.”

Ruiz had no prior convictions, according to authorities, who said the sentence is standard in vehicular manslaughter cases where the defendant has a clean record.

The parents of both women addressed the court, expressing their grief and sense of loss while showing portraits of their daughters.

“The judge described it as the most tragic case she had ever seen,” Diamond said.