Guilty Plea Entered in Fatal Crash
A 21-year-old Sylmar man pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of vehicular manslaughter stemming from a freeway drag race in which three friends died, the district attorney’s office reported.
Kenneth Acosta pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts resulting from a race March 4 that killed a member of the Sylmar High School marching band and two former members.
Acosta and his girlfriend had met friends Shannon Haupt, 20; Michael Encinas and Pablo Munoz--both 18--at a Northridge restaurant for dinner that night. Acosta left with his girlfriend in one car and the other three left in another driven by Munoz.
On the Foothill Freeway, they began racing at speeds of up to 100 mph, authorities said. Munoz braked to avoid other cars and lost control, the car flying 400 feet into a drainage ditch just east of the Ronald Reagan Freeway connector road.
Munoz, Haupt and Encinas were killed.
Acosta, released on his own recognizance, could be sentenced to up to two years in County Jail, authorities said. Sentencing is scheduled for July 30.
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