Man Sentenced to Rehab, Probation for DUI Crash That Killed Cousin

By Bay City News Service:

A man who killed his cousin while driving drunk in Daly City last year was sentenced to five years' probation Friday despite prosecutors' requests for a lengthy prison term, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office.

Dennis Salguero, 23, pleaded no contest in April to felony vehicular manslaughter while under the influence of alcohol and felony drunk driving causing injury for the crash on Dec. 18 after an afternoon of drinking tequila with his father, prosecutors said.

Salguero left his father's Daly City home at about 4:45 p.m. and drove his two cousins despite pleas from his father and uncle to take BART, according to the district attorney's office.

He was speeding and swerving along Interstate Highway 280 and eventually lost control of the car and crashed into the center divider near Westlake Avenue, prosecutors said.

His cousin Gilbert Vallejo, a 33-year-old Daly City resident, was in the back seat and was thrown from the car in the crash and died from his injuries.

Salguero and another cousin who had been riding in the front seat were injured but not seriously. When police arrived, Salguero was unconscious in the driver's seat and obviously drunk, prosecutors said.

He was arrested and found to have a blood-alcohol level of .13 percent two hours later, according to the district attorney's office.

Prosecutors requested a sentence of seven years and eight months in prison, the maximum amount allowable under the agreement between Salguero and the district attorney's office in exchange for his no contest plea.

But Judge Jonathan Karesh disagreed, citing that the victim's family -- who is also Salguero's family -- supported probation. The judge also said Salguero had no prior criminal record and had been doing well in jail educational programs.

Karesh sentenced Salguero to a year in jail and five years' probation, but the jail term can be served in a residential drug treatment facility, prosecutors said. He will also need to pay restitution in an amount yet to be determined.