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- Ruby Lorenzo was ordered to jail without bail in the death of a road worker in Sacramento.
- Prosecutors allege Lorenzo had a 0.18% blood alcohol content, over twice the 0.08% limit.
- The crash killed road worker Onias Rodriguez Avila who was working on the Fix 50 project.
A woman accused of driving drunk in the death of a road construction worker hit by a vehicle on Highway 50 in Sacramento was ordered back to jail and to be held without bail while facing felony charges in court.
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Ruby Lorenzo, 24, of Escalon in San Joaquin County, was being held Thursday in the Sacramento County Jail, custody records show. She has been charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in the death of Onias Rodriguez Avila.
Rodriguez Avila, 45, of Modesto, was the road construction worker killed in the vehicle crash early Monday on Highway 50 near Stockton Boulevard, the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office confirmed. He was working on the ongoing Fix 50 road project when the vehicle struck him.
Along with the vehicular manslaughter charge, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office charged Lorenzo with unlawfully driving under the influence of alcohol, according to the filed criminal complaint. Prosecutors alleged in the complaint that Lorenzo was driving with an alcohol content of 0.18%, or more than twice the legal limit 0.08% for drivers in California.
Lorenzo also faces a felony charge of hit-and-run that resulted in Rodriguez Avila’s death. The vehicular manslaughter charge includes an enhancement for allegedly fleeing the scene of the crime.
Along with the felony charges, she faces a misdemeanor hit-and-run charge for alleged damage to another vehicle in Monday’s incident on Highway 50 in Sacramento.
The California Highway Patrol said the deadly vehicle crash was reported shortly before 12:30 a.m. Monday.
Lorenzo in her vehicle was heading east on Highway 50 when it collided with another vehicle heading in the same direction, the CHP’s South Sacramento office said in a news release.
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The CHP said Lorenzo’s vehicle then went into a closed construction zone, where it struck a construction vehicle, Rodriguez Avila and a guardrail. The injured road construction worker was pronounced dead at the scene.
After the crash, Lorenzo continued east and left the scene, the CHP said. The driver of the other vehicle involved in the initial crash followed the suspect and gave CHP dispatchers with information that helped officers find the suspect.
The CHP said Lorenzo was subsequently arrested. Lorenzo was later released from jail after posting a bail bond.
“This tragic loss is a heartbreaking reminder of the devastating consequences of impaired driving and the dangers faced by workers in roadway construction zones,” CHP South Sacramento Commander Capt. Noah Hawkins said in the news release. “We extend our deepest condolences to the family, friends and coworkers of the construction worker who lost their life in this tragic incident.”
In court Wednesday, the prosecutor told the judge that Lorenzo reached speeds of 100 mph while trying to get away, ABC10 reported. The judge then ordered Lorenzo to remain in custody while facing criminal prosecution in court.
Rodriguez Avila’s family created a GoFundMe online fundraiser to help the family pay for his funeral costs and ease some of the financial burden. Andrea Rodriguez, his sister, said he was their parents’ only son, a father to a young man and a proud grandfather to his 8-month-old granddaughter.
“Our lives were changed forever when his life was taken by a selfish individual while he was at work making a living,” his sister wrote on the GoFundMe page. “We are still trying to process this heartbreaking loss and trying to understand how something so tragic could happen to someone who was so deeply loved.”
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