DUI Driver Who Ran Over 2-Year-Old Girl Sentenced To 6 Years

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — A Santa Rosa man was sentenced Thursday morning in a Santa Rosa courtroom to six years in prison for running over a 2-year-old girl with his van in 2019 near Coddingtown Mall, seriously injuring the child, the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office said.

Prior to his sentencing, Hector Cabrales-Larios, 39, pleaded no contest in March to felony charges of hit and run, driving under the influence of alcohol with a prior felony DUI, and causing great bodily injury to a child younger than 5 years old.

The toddler was with her grandmother July 11, 2019, and they'd just gone to the Social Security Office when the little girl made her way onto Range Avenue. Simultaneously, Cabrales-Larios was driving a distinctive old-fashioned camper van on Range Avenue& and ran over the victim while going 30-35 mph, prosecutors said.

Witnesses told investigators the van driver "made no effort to stop" and he accelerated as he drove away from the scene, prosecutors said.

The little girl has since recovered but spent more than three weeks in the intensive care unit at Oakland Children's Hospital for treatment of major injuries, including heart and lung contusions, a skull fracture, and a brain bleed.

• RELATED: Girl, 2, Struck At Coddingtown Mall By Suspected DUI Driver: SRPD

According to a news release from the DA's Office, the girl and her parents attended Thursday's sentencing remotely. Her father gave a statement about the impact the incident has had on their family, while her mother expressed hope that such an accident would never happen again.

Prosecutors said Cabrales-Larios had a blood-alcohol content of .110 percent the day of the incident.

Cabrales-Larios was tracked down by a Santa Rosa police officer who recognized the van from a previous hit-and-run investigation. The officers went to Cabrales-Larios' residence where he found the van parked.

Cabrales admitted to driving but denied being involved in a collision, police said.

Investigators, however, said broken pieces of plastic from the grill matched plastic found at the scene and the grill of his van had damage consistent with injuries to the girl's head.

Cabrales-Larios has remained in custody at Sonoma County jail since his arrest on July 11, 2019.

At the time, police said he also had at least three misdemeanor DUI convictions and a 2013 conviction for felony DUI causing injury.

The DA's Office said data from the California Department of Motor Vehicles shows that alcohol and drug-related crashes and fatalities have increased in recent years, particularly among defendants who have at least one prior DUI conviction.

Statewide, impaired drivers make up 1.43 percent of all drivers but are responsible for 59 percent of all collisions, according to the DA's Office.