Editor’s Note: In today’s Thursday Feature, we travel to a courtroom in Santa Barbara County, California, where the impact of a forklift crash are still being felt by its victims and their families.
Adolo Pozos Sr. stood in a California courtroom last Thursday. A few feet away sat the man who killed his wife and son with a forklift 20 months earlier.
“I feel horrible,” Pozos told Superior Court Judge John McGregor, his voice quivering with emotion. “I know I can’t do anything as a father to bring them back.”
The defendant in the case — Daniel Garcia Castillo, 38, of Foxen Canyon, California — reportedly was high on methamphetamine when he crashed his forklift into a car carrying four people on August 29, 2013. He also admitted to using Vicodin and consuming alcohol shortly before the crash.
The force of the 12,000 pound Caterpillar forklift striking the 1999 Honda Civic — which driven by 16-year-old Adolfo Pozos and contained three other family members — was enough to toss the vehicle into a drainage ditch by the side of the road, according to police.
Both Adolfo and his aunt, Casilda Dias Pozos, 49, were killed. Adolfo’s mother, Mahayte Pozos, and sister, Celizeth Pozos, also suffered serious injuries. Rescue workers had to use special equipment to rip the vehicle’s steel frame apart to get at the victims.
Scars Continue to Heal
The two survivors continue to struggle to recover from their injuries. They did not speak during Castillo’s sentencing hearing, although they did submit victim impact statements to the judge.
During Thursday’s hearing, Castillo’s defense attorney, Sydney Bennett, argued that his client also has suffered as a result of the incident. He asked that the judge sentence his client to probation because Castillo had never intended to cause the collision and that he was genuinely sorry about the pain and suffering he had caused the Pozos family.
But Prosecutor Stephen Foley disputed Bennett’s claims, arguing that Castillo lied to police at the accident scene about his drug and alcohol use and that he continued to lie during the trial. He later admitted to using methamphetamine on the day of the collision to the Santa Barbara County Probation Department.
“He took the witness stand and said the accident was really caused because Adolfo Pozos was in the wrong lane,” Foley told the Lompoc Record. “The defendant never took responsibility when it mattered.”
During the sentencing hearing, Castillo remained silent, choosing not to address the court on his behalf. Letter written by friends and family attesting to his character and appealing to the judge for leniency also were not read.
Driver Receives Maximum Sentence
In the end, the judge sentenced Castillo to the maximum term in prison allowable under California state law for his crimes: 10 years and eight months. He also was ordered to pay a minimum of $12,618.86 in restitution to the Pozos family, although this amount could increase if family asks for more money.
Castillo received six years for one count of vehicular manslaughter, two years for the other, and eight months each for lesser charges, with an eight-month sentenced stayed. An additional year was added for the special circumstances of causing injury to more than one person and causing great bodily injury.
Foley hailed the judge’s decision to give Castillo the maximum sentence, saying that it shows the everyone, especially victims who feel they are “powerless” in the community because they are Spanish-speaking and not well-connected.
Drugs, Booze, Forklifts Don’t Mix
Police said Castillo was driving his forklift backwards at speeds of 30 miles per hour for about four miles on a public road in Santa Maria, California, when it collided with the Pozos’ vehicle. Casilda Dias Pozos had been siting behind the driver and wasn’t wearing a seat belt, so the force of the impact caused her to be ejected from the vehicle.
When police arrived on the scene, they found Castillo in a highly agitated condition, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Gregorio Escovedo.
“He was very nervous, pacing back and forth,” Escovedo testified during Castillo’s trial. “He said out loud, ‘I shouldn’t have had my foot all the way down on the gas pedal.’ ”
Forklift Operator Admitted Using Drugs, Alcohol
Castillo told CHP officers he saw the car coming toward him as he was making a left turn. When he didn’t slow down, he attempted to swerve out of the way.
Castillo also told police at the scene that he had consumed one 12-ounce beer with lunch and had taken a Vicodin that morning for back pain. But a blood alcohol test revealed that the forklift operator had a BAC of 0.09% and traces of methamphetamine in his bloodstream. No Vicodin was found in his system.
Castillo later admitted to officers that he snorted a line of meth the night before the fatal crash. He apparently later told his probation officer that he took the meth at some point before the crash.
“In my opinion, the driver of the forklift was under the influence of a combination of alcohol and drugs or drugs,” Escovedo testified. “The forklift crossed into the opposing land and crashed head-on into another vehicle.”
District Attorney Joyce Dudley said the unfortunate accident was “another heart-breaking instance that proves driving under the influence of ‘meth’ or any intoxicating substance kills.”
Both survivors of the crash were present in the courtroom when the announcement was read. Foley said the victims’ family members were “extremely gratified that the criminal justice system worked for them.”
Castillo apparently was the owner of the forklift and had been driving it back to his home when the accident occurred.