Last Updated on August 28, 2018 by CCAR Staff
A 27-year-old Rancho Cucamonga man accused of driving drunk and causing a crash that killed two cousins from Corona in Westminster faces murder and DUI charges.
According to court records, Christian Samuel Dominguez was charged Aug. 20 with two counts of murder, single counts of driving under the influence and causing injury and driving with a blood-alcohol level above .08. All are felonies. He faces sentence enhancements for inflicting great bodily injury.
Dominguez was arrested after an Aug. 11 crash that killed 39-year-old Roberto Ramirez and 26-year-old Ivan Ramirez. Dominguez was found to have a blood-alcohol level of at least .13 percent. Four people including Dominguez were injured after Dominguez, while driving at high speed, slammed his Honda sedan into the back of a Ford pickup truck, triggering a chain reaction of crashes on the 405 freeway.
Five cars were involved in the crashes, which occurred at about 4 a.m. in southbound lanes near Beach Boulevard.
The disabled Honda ended up facing the wrong way in the middle lanes, and a Kia slammed head-on into it, bursting into flames and killing the two cousins, the California Highway Patrol said. A Dodge truck clipped the Kia and veered off the road, and then a Toyota Corolla slammed into the back of the Kia.
Dominguez has a prior conviction for drunken driving in San Bernardino County, according to court records, which show he pleaded no contest to DUI on Nov. 27, 2012.
He was being held in lieu of $2 million bail, according to jail records.
