A drunk driver was ordered June 8 to stand trial for murder and gross vehicular manslaughter in the death of a man who was struck and killed while at a Chula Vista bus bench.
Numerous witnesses testified in the preliminary hearing of Nicholas Ruben Ramirez, 28, who is accused of killing William Anthony Gerling, 65, whose leg was nearly severed on Dec. 4, 2016.
Ramirez had been drinking at a Chula Vista bar for several hours and his blood/alcohol level was .21, which is nearly three times the legal limit.
Ramirez left a relative’s car at the scene of the collision near the intersection of Orange Avenue and Third Avenue at 6:46 p.m. and fled. The car jumped the curb, struck the bench, and slammed the bench into a tree.
Gerling died as a result of a blunt force trauma. He suffered a skull fracture, a fracture to his spine, and near amputation of a leg, according to a stipulation read in court between Deputy District Attorney Cally Bright and defense attorney Craig Leff.
Ramirez, of Imperial Beach, returned to the scene with his father, and was arrested, said Chula Vista Police patrol agent Lamar Barrett.
Barrett told Chula Vista Superior Court Judge Theodore Weathers he was wrapping evidence tape around the scene when Ramirez walked up with his father. “He said he was the driver of the vehicle,” said Barrett, who added that Ramirez pointed to the damaged Mitsubishi Lancer.
“He said he was 5150 so please be easy on him,” said Barrett, who explained that 5150 means “a mentally disturbed invidual.”
The California Welfare & Institutions Code 5150 says that persons can be involuntarily held if they appear to be a danger to themselves. The term is sometimes heard on police television dramas.
Ramirez has been convicted twice of drunk driving, both in 2009, according to court records.
Officer Raul Naranjo told Weathers that Ramirez initially denied drinking alcohol that night. Ramirez failed the sobriety tests Naranjo administered.
“I ran away because I hit somebody. I pray to God he’s still alive,” Ramirez was quoted as saying to Naranjo.
Naranjo said Ramirez’s speech was slurred, his watery eyes were bloodshot, and he was unsteady on his feet. He lost his balance at one point, and had alcohol on his breath, he said.
Officer Michael Knapp told Weathers there didn’t appear to be any braking before the bus bench was struck and a pole knocked over. The vehicle ruptured a water valve which poured out water for two hours.
Knapp said it appeared Ramirez didn’t stop at a red light on Orange Avenue and he turned too fast onto Third Avenue, resulting in losing control of the Mitsubishi.
Officer Oscar Miranda testified he did a mechanical exam of the vehicle and he could find no defects that would have caused the crash.
District Attorney investigator Michael Edwards said a warrant authorizing Ramirez’s phone to be searched showed the car’s owner texted him with a message not to drink and drive and “please come home.”
Paula Myers, the victim’s services director for Mothers Against Drunk Drivers for 25 years, read records of an Aug., 2009 impact panel which Ramirez attended.
Myers said she was the facilitator and she advised people that if they drink again and kill someone, they could later be charged with murder. She said Ramirez’s signature was on a form for the day she spoke.
Weathers also ordered Ramirez to stand trial for hit and run causing death, and two other hit and run charges in which he struck parked cars.
Ramirez will get a trial date set on June 27 and he has pleaded not guilty. He remains in jail on $2 million bail.
