15 to life for DUI crash that killed man at Chula Vista bus bench

A 29-year-old man with a history of drunken driving was ordered to prison Friday for 15 years to life for a DUI hit-and-run crash that killed a man who was sitting at a Chula Vista bus bench.

Nicholas Ramirez apologized to the victim’s family and expressed remorse before Chula Vista Superior Court Judge Dwayne Moring handed down the maximum sentence.

A jury found Ramirez guilty in December 2017 of second-degree murder in the death of 65-year-old William Gerling.

Ramirez also was found guilty of vehicular manslaughter while impaired, hit and run and driving under the influence causing injury.

His blood-alcohol content measured .21 percent, Deputy District Attorney Cally Bright said. In California, .08 percent is the legal limit at which a driver is presumed intoxicated.

Authorities said Ramirez left a Third Avenue bar in Chula Vista about 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 4, 2016, hit one or two parked cars and kept going. He returned to the bar, where crash witnesses confronted him.

He sped away and his car went out of control near Orange Avenue, where it jumped a curb and hit Gerling.

Gerling’s leg was severed in the impact. Ramirez came back to the crash site later with his father and was arrested.

Bright said Ramirez was arrested twice in 2009 for DUI, in Chula Vista where he had a blood-alcohol content of .18 percent after hitting four parked cars, and in El Cajon, where he had a .20 percent blood-alcohol content.

pauline.repard@sduniontribune

Twitter: @pdrepard