{"id":460179,"date":"2026-09-11T05:11:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T05:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/460179\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T05:11:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T05:11:22","slug":"california-drunk-driver-gets-nearly-200-year-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/460179\/","title":{"rendered":"California drunk driver gets\u00a0nearly 200-year sentence\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man who drove while drunk<\/a> was sentenced last Friday to a whopping 188 years in prison for five deaths, the Sacramento County District Attorney\u2019s office announced this week.<\/p>\n

Cameron Garcia, 32, was convicted of driving while intoxicated when in 2023, a 2007 Cadillac Escalade crashed into a tree south of the Freeport Bridge between Clarksburg and Freeport.<\/p>\n

A man who drove while drunk was sentenced last Friday to a whopping 188 years in prison for five deaths.<\/p>\n

Cameron Garcia was sentenced to 188 years in prison on Friday in Sacramento County, California. CHANGE ORG<\/p>\n

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In that vehicle were five passengers \u2014 Monte Nunn, 29; Faith Samuel, 18; Izabelle Salaz-Stephens, 19; Curvontay Swygert, 16; and Aahliya Garcia, 17 \u2014 who all died from the crash.<\/p>\n

According to prosecutors, Garcia had spent the day drinking by the Sacramento River. As he was driving down a road, the road turned and Garcia hit the tree at 101 miles per hour.<\/p>\n

Monte Nunn is pictured. KCRA<\/p>\n

Izabelle Salaz-Stephens, right, is pictured. KCRA<\/p>\n

Aahliya Garcia is pictured in this undated photo. CHANGE ORG<\/p>\n

Garcia was allegedly so drunk that even right before the car hit the tree, there were no brakes applied and the foot was on accelerator pedal. The car flipped 180 degrees, tearing the entire right side and most of the roof off the vehicle.<\/p>\n

Garcia survived with multiple injuries, but at the crash site, he made attempts to flee, which the jury determined as a reason to enhance his punishment. <\/p>\n

Cameron Garcia, 28, appears in a Sacramento County courtroom on Feb. 14, 2023. Garcia is accused of killing five people in a car crash. KCRA 3<\/p>\n

The scene of a crash on Highway 160 in Sacramento County. Five people were killed in the crash, and driver Cameron Garcia, 28, is in custody after allegedly leading authorities on a chase while under the influence. CBS SACRAMENTO<\/p>\n

A flipped-over car is seen after a crash on Highway 160 in Sacramento County. Five people were killed in the crash, and the driver, Cameron Garcia, 28, is accused of leading authorities on a chase while allegedly under the influence. CBS SACRAMENTO<\/p>\n

He attempted to take several cars, including that of a woman who was nearby and drove to the scene. When she arrived, Garcia got into her car, pushed her out of the driver\u2019s seat and sped off.<\/p>\n

He ended up in Elk Grove where multiple officers chased him through cars and helicopter. He crashed that stolen car and tried to flee again, but officers eventually apprehended him.<\/p>\n

Blood tests later showed he had a blood alcohol concentration<\/a> of 0.11% about 90 minutes after the collision. He also had active marijuana in his system.<\/p>\n

Blood tests later showed he had a blood alcohol concentration<\/a> of 0.11% about 90 minutes after the collision. He also had active marijuana in his system. KCRA 3<\/p>\n

Family members of Garcia, however, are disputing that narrative. According to a Change.org petition<\/a> started by his family, one of the victims \u2014 Faith Samuel \u2014 was actually the one who \u201clost control\u201d of the vehicle and was behind the wheel.<\/p>\n

Garcia, they insisted, was actually sleeping at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only survivor, Cameron was thrown from the vehicle in a manner that, he desperately insists, proves he was not driving,\u201d the petition read. \u201cDespite the context and evidence, he was sentenced to 188 years for a crime he did not commit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The petition is asking for a review of the case and to overturn the conviction, which is based on five counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and carjacking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man who drove while drunk was sentenced last Friday to a whopping 188 years in prison for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[7,16931,4182,266,121,123,122,2897,3586],"class_list":["post-460179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-california","tag-drunk-driving","tag-metro","tag-northern-california","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news","tag-sentencing","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}