Drunk driver whose crash left a father without his legs receives maximum 9-year sentence
A Tulare County man was sentenced to nine years in prison for driving drunk and causing a crash that maimed a Porterville father.
Mohamed Mohamed, 22, had a prior misdemeanor conviction of reckless driving in Los Angeles. And he has a pending DUI charge in Kern County from an incident a month before he crashed into Geronimo Gonzalez this spring.
According to the California Highway Patrol, just after midnight April 12, Gonzalez, 37, was standing next to his pickup outside his trailer south of Porterville. Suddenly, a 2015 BMW driven at about 150 mph by Mohamed blew a stop sign and crossed onto a dirt driveway.
The BMW knocked Gonzalez off the ground and his legs were ripped from his body. Mohamed ran from the scene, according to CHP reports.
The crash shattered Gonzalez’s life. He spent 75 days in Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno and was discharged with severe brain damage as well as the possibility of having his left leg amputated even higher due to possible infection, according to his sister Alexis Franklin. The family raised money to cover the cost of Gonzalez’s recovery.
The BMW crashed into Gonzalez’s red pickup, too, causing it to flip. He had been repairing a window on the truck.
Gonzalez was thrown 30 feet from where he stood. He landed about five feet from where his daughter slept inside, his sister said. The dusty tailgate was found where Gonzalez’s blue jeans came to rest, over a patch of bright purple wildflowers. A black belt was still attached to his pants. His shoes were knocked off.
The night of the crash, Mohamed was found by CHP officers at his home and later booked into the Tulare County Pre-Trial Facility on suspicion of driving under the influence with a blood alcohol level of roughly .137%. The CHP reported he was driving with a suspended license.
Mohamed was released on supervision after his first court appearance. He was placed back into custody after his second court hearing. The Tulare County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday that Mohamed will spend nine years in prison for the crash, the maximum sentence for such crimes.
“Too many innocent lives and families are forever altered by this entirely preventable crime,” Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward said in a statement.
Franklin said her brother is struggling to regain his memory but has a strong family support system.
She said that a nine-year prison sentence does not make up for the life-altering changes Mohamed caused for her family and Gonzalez. She said Mohamed never apologized for what he did.
“It’s amazing now how much our life has changed,” Franklin said Thursday. “He (Mohamed) made a decision that unfortunately affected people around him ... I am thankful that he didn’t take my brother’s life.”
Gonzalez lived with his 5-year-old daughter Marvel Storm Gonzalez – her given names rooted in her father’s love of comic books.
Gonzalez gets around with help from family and tries to live life as normal as possible, Franklin said, adding that her brother has always been a strong person. Gonzalez attended Mohamed’s court hearings and he was there as a judge announced the prison sentence.
Mohamed, Franklin said, will never take her brother’s spirit: “He cannot break that. My brother has a life and he’s going to live it.”
This story was originally published September 26, 2019 at 5:00 PM.
