Motorcyclist Struck In Fatal Valley Center Crash ID'd

VALLEY CENTER, CA — Authorities Tuesday publicly identified a 26-year-old motorcyclist who was killed earlier this month in Valley Center in a collision with a pickup truck, whose driver is facing a charge of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

Kaulana Miller, a Valley Center resident, was struck about 1:45 p.m. May 16 by a truck making a left-hand turn in front of him from Irish Oaks Road onto Valley Center Road, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office. Miller was taken to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, where he was pronounced dead at around 6:45 p.m.

Oswaldo Garcia, 39, entered a not guilty plea on Monday. Along with vehicular manslaughter, he is charged with two felony counts of DUI causing injury and misdemeanor counts of being an unlicensed driver and getting behind the wheel while his driving privileges were suspended or revoked.

Deputy District Attorney David Uyar said Garcia was arrested in March 2020 and March of this year for separate DUI offenses and released from custody each time. He was slated to be arraigned later this summer in the latest case, prior to the May 16 fatality.

— City News Service