A Norwalk man who was driving drunk when he rear-ended a minivan on the 605 Freeway was sentenced to 16 years in prison for killing two people in the fiery crash, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Alex Barragan pleaded no contest to two felony counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated for the July 16, 2018, crash that left two people dead — Atef Mishreky, 52, and Mirna Beshara, 19, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
It wasn’t the defendant’s first intoxicated driving offense, and he additionally pleaded no contest to a felony count of driving with a .08% blood alcohol content causing injury within 10 years of another DUI offense, the DA’s office said.
Barragan, 33, was driving an Infiniti along the northbound 605 Freeway in Norwalk, near Alondra Boulevard, around 1 a.m. when his car slammed into the back of a Ford Windstar disabled and stopped in the No. 3 lane.
Footage from a freelance videographer shows the vehicles went up in flames upon impact.
Mishreky and Beshara were inside the minivan along with two others: the 22-year-old driver Martina Beshara, and a 7-year-old girl who suffered major injuries. Monica Madrid, a 22-year-old passenger in Barragan’s car, had minor injuries.
Barragan was arrested on suspicion of DUI immediately after the collision, and two days later, the DA’s office charged him with two counts of murder. Prosecutors said he had a blood alcohol content of at least .20%.
At the time, the DA’s office said he could face up to 44 years to life in state prison if convicted of the initial charges.
