Teen Charged With 7 Felony DUIs After Deadly Crash

A California teenager has been charged with 7 felony DUIs after a deadly crash in Nevada.

Five people were killed in the crash, which occurred on Interstate 15 about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, and another two were injured. Jean Ervin Soriano managed to escape the crash with his life but he is now being charged with 7 felony DUIs.

According to Yahoo News, Soriano also faces two misdemeanors for driving without a license and failure to decrease speed.

The Huffington Post notes that Soriano was a fugitive at the time of the crash. The 18-year-old escaped the Youth Guidance Center in Santa Ana, California, on March 1. The Guidance Center is a facility that treats young drug and alcohol abusers.

Soriano is currently being held on $3.5 million bond.

The Nevada Highway Patrol reports that Soriano and another passenger rear-ended a van on I-15 over the Easter weekend. The van flipped over and five of the seven people inside, including a 13-year-old girl, were killed.

Genaro Fernandez, 41, Raudel Fernandez-Avila, 49, Belen Fernandez, 53, Angela Sandoval, 13, and Leonardo Fernandez-Avila, 45 were killed. Maria Rosario Cardana, who was driving the van, and Eddie Sandoval, a 15-year-old passenger, survived the crash.

Police found empty beer cans in Soriano’s car and the teenager reportedly told police that he was the one who had been driving. Soriano had a blood alcohol level of.12 at the time of the crash.

An evidence hearing has been scheduled for May 15. Frank Cofer, Soriano’s attorney, said that his client plans on pleading not guilty.

Cofer said that he will have officers preserve blood samples from the crash to determine if Soriano was actually driving. He has also asked for the blood-alcohol tests to undergo an independent evaluation to determine if Soriano was legally over the limit at the time of the accident.