17-year-old Lamborghini driver admits to vehicular manslaughter in fatal LA car crash
A 17-year-old Lamborghini driver has admitted to vehicular manslaughter in connection with a Los Angeles car crash that killed a 32-year-old woman, prosecutors said.
The teenager involved in the deadly crash admitted the petition Friday -- the equivalent of a guilty plea for juvenile court -- and was placed on house arrest, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office said. He is expected to return to juvenile court on June 30 for a disposition setting hearing. He'll wear an ankle monitor while he awaits sentencing, ABC Los Angeles station KABC reported.
The driver of the Lamborghini, who has not been publicly identified because of his age, was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter on Feb. 23, police said. The district attorney's office filed charges on April 7 after completing the investigation.
Friends and family of Monique Muñoz, the woman killed in the February crash, have held several protests calling for justice in her death.
A group of protesters gathered outside Inglewood juvenile court Friday, holding posters with pictures of Muñoz and chanting, "What do we want? Justice! When do want it? Now!"
"As far as justice is concerned, we want him to go to prison and understand the consequences of his doing," Richard Cartier, Muñoz's uncle, told reporters after the arraignment hearing.
Munoz's family had been hoping the 17-year-old would be charged as an adult.
"You're a 17-year-old kid, driving an adult car, acting like an adult, you should be tried as an adult," Munoz's stepfather, Isaac Cardona, told "Good Morning America" last month.
"I want the person to be held accountable for his action," Muñoz's mother, Carol Cardona, added.
"She had so much life left," Carol Cardona said. "I miss her so much."
Muñoz, of Hawthorne, California, was driving home from work shortly after 5 p.m. on Feb. 17 in west Los Angeles when a black Lamborghini SUV collided with her Lexus sedan, police said. Her car was totaled. The Los Angeles Fire Department responded and rendered aid, but she was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Following the crash, LAPD West Traffic said it was a "costly reminder for everyone to slow down." The teen was driving at a "high rate of speed" when he slammed into the Lexus, LAPD Capt. Brian Wendling told the Los Angeles Times.
The father of the 17-year-old driver apologized to Muñoz's family "for the tragic loss of their daughter."
"There are no words I can say to alleviate the pain that you are experiencing," James Khuri, an LA entrepreneur, said in an Instagram post last month.
