GILROY
– A woman who police say drove drunk through the streets of
Eagle Ridge with her 3-month-old daughter in the car pleaded no
contest Thursday to charges including felony child
endangerment.
GILROY – A woman who police say drove drunk through the streets of Eagle Ridge with her 3-month-old daughter in the car pleaded no contest Thursday to charges including felony child endangerment.
Sabrina Ortez, 24, also pleaded to DUI, hit-and-run and driving with a suspended license in Superior Court in San Martin. Her expected sentence was unavailable at press time.
Police said Ortez was speeding, distracted by talking on her cellular phone and impaired by alcohol when she sideswiped a car at a Club Drive stop sign, in front of the Eagle Ridge clubhouse, on the night of May 12.
She drove off immediately after the collision and didn’t stop until she hit a tree, rolling her boyfriend’s father’s 1987 Mercedes onto its roof.
Her driver’s license was suspended at the time due to a prior conviction of driving under the influence of alcohol.
Ortez was not injured in the wreck, and police said her crying baby, Leilani Asfour, showed no visible signs of injury at the scene of the crash. Nevertheless, a CALSTAR helicopter flew the child to San Jose Medical Center for evaluation. Hospital officials reported Asfour was in good condition.
The infant was strapped into a car seat at the time of the wreck, but the seat was not secured to the vehicle seat according to public safety recommendations.
Deputy public defender Kip Davis, who represented Ortez, said her charge of child abuse was due to her drunken driving, not the improperly secured car seat.
“There was no indication that the installation of the seat took place that evening while she had been drinking,” Davis said.
Ortez was living with her boyfriend and his parents on St. Andrew’s Circle in Eagle Ridge at the time of the wreck.
Deputy district attorney Dan Nishigaya, of the DA’s child/elder abuse unit, prosecuted the case.
