Wrong-way driver sentenced for I-5 wreck that injured 2 in Pierce County
The force of the head-on wreck must have been incredible, Superior Court Judge Garold Johnson said.
“This kind of conduct kills people,” Johnson emphasized Friday as he sentenced the wrong-way driver who caused the Dec. 26, 2016 crash on Interstate 5 in Pierce County.
The judge gave Oscar Sanabria 5 years, 10 months in prison, which is what both the defense and prosecution recommended.
The 39-year-old pleaded guilty earlier this year to vehicular assault and second-degree robbery for the wreck, which injured both Sanabria and the other driver.
According to charging papers:
A man was reaching to start his Nissan Versa in Tacoma when Sanabria grabbed him from behind, pulled him away and drove off in the car.
About 10 minutes later, Sanabria was driving the wrong way in the southbound lanes of I-5 near the ramp to state Route 512 when he crashed head-on with a Mazda hatchback.
Sanabria told a detective that he had been driving the wrong way because he was “tripping bad.”
In his plea statement, Sanabria wrote that he was knocked unconscious in the crash and does not remember what happened.
He maintained his innocence to the charges in the statement but agreed to the plea as part of negotiations with prosecutors.
Sanabria told the court Friday: “I was very grateful that neither the victim or I died in the accident. I feel that God is giving me another chance at life.”
He also said he has a 2-year-old son who he “desperately wants to get home and raise.”
Johnson told Sanabria he couldn’t imagine how many 2-year-old children might have been on the road the day of the wreck.
“I’ve learned a lot, and I have found God in this situation,” Sanabria said. “I ask for forgiveness and pray that God will lead me on the path that he wants me to go.”
The Mazda driver wrote the court last year that he’s a surgeon and that his injuries from the wreck kept him from operating for several months. He was a newlywed, had recently moved to the area and had just started his first job after his residency.
Deputy prosecutor Tim Jones told the court that the man has since been able to return to work.
“He’s relieved this case is over with,” Jones said.
After the wreck, investigators found that Sanabria had a warrant for his arrest related to charges that he kidnapped and raped a woman March 29, 2016 after he offered her a ride in Tacoma.
Prosecutors dismissed that case last month after the woman he was accused of attacking did not appear at trial.
This story was originally published July 16, 2018 at 1:13 PM.