Last Updated on August 3, 2020 by CCAR Staff
A man stands accused of second-degree murder, and another was charged with vehicular manslaughter Monday, Aug. 3, following a street race in Santa Ana that led to a crash and the death of a longtime Orange County Register editor.
Santa Ana residents Louie Robert Villa, 29, and Ricardo Navarro Tolento, 24, were both charged on suspicion of engaging in a prohibited speed contest that ended in a three-vehicle collision that left journalist Gene Harbrecht, 67, also of Santa Ana, dead on Thursday, July 30.
Tolento faces additional allegations of vehicular manslaughter and fleeing the scene of the collision. Villa was accused of second-degree murder, driving while under the influence of alcohol and driving with a license revoked for DUI, according to court records.
Investigators believe the two men were racing each other when Villa’s BMW slammed into Harbrecht’s pickup truck near Bristol Street and Santa Clara Avenue with enough force to knock it 60 feet away and onto a sidewalk. A pair of good Samaritans rescued Harbrecht from the wreckage, but he later died at UC Irvine Medical Center hospital.
Harbrecht began working for the Register in 1984. He recently was the national and international news editor for the greater Southern California News Group. Friends and colleagues described him as an engaging and grumpy country music fan, who was a “newsman to his core.”
Villa was seriously injured and sustained several broken bones in the collision, Santa Ana Police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said. He remained hospitalized as of Monday afternoon, Orange County District Attorney’s officials said.
The injured motorist’s driver’s license had been revoked at the time of the crash due to a prior DUI conviction. Villa admitted to the possession of an opened alcoholic beverage while driving in 2011. Since then, he has pleaded guilty to multiple charges of driving with a license suspended or revoked due to DUI, according to court records. He was most recently convicted in October 2018, and was accused of committing the same offense in April 2019.
Tolento fled the scene of the crash on Thursday, police said. Police, aided by information from a witness, located his Infiniti sedan at a post office near First Street and Pacific Avenue and arrested him.
He previously pleaded guilty in September 2015 to charges related to a hit-and-run crash resulting in injury and property damage.
If convicted as charged, Villa could face as many as 21 years behind bars, and Tolento could potentially serve a maximum of 11 years in prison, District Attorney’s Office officials said.
“The decision to get behind the wheel after drinking or using drugs is a selfish one that unnecessarily endangers lives and all too often takes the lives of innocent bystanders,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement Monday. “An illegal street race and a repeat drunk driver who had been warned about the dangers of driving under the influence collided in the middle of the day on a Santa Ana street, resulting in a tragedy that didn’t have to happen.
