Man sentenced after injuring two children while drunk driving
Published at
IDAHO FALLS – A local man was sentenced Wednesday after injuring two children while driving under the influence.
Chico Ernest Cruz, 41, was sentenced by District Judge Bruce Pickett and will serve two to seven years in prison.
He will also complete 100 hours of community service, attend court-mandated drug treatment, and be on felony probation for seven years.
Cruz was originally charged with felony aggravated DUI and two felony counts of injury to a child. As part of a plea agreement, Cruz agreed to plead guilty to felony aggravated DUI, and the prosecution agreed to dismiss the two injury to a child charges.
Court records show Bonneville County Sheriff’s deputies arrived at a three-car collision in July 2021, where they found a 10-year-old in one of the wrecked cars whose “head and face were covered in blood.”
Deputies say in police reports that they could “see a large gash above the right eye and nose, and could see her nose was slightly off-centered and blood was coming out and appeared broken.”
The driver of the car, identified as Cruz, was also on the scene attempting to comfort the girl and a young boy who were both in the car.
Deputies stated they could “smell the strong odor of alcohol coming from his breath.”
The girl was taken to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, and the boy was treated on the scene by emergency medical personnel.
Cruz told the deputies that the crash was “all his fault” because he was “driving southbound on (North Ammon Road) and had run the stop sign on East Iona Road.”
Deputies asked Cruz if he had anything to drink that night, to which he replied that he had drunk alcohol approximately four hours before.
Cruz completed a field sobriety test, which he failed. His blood-alcohol levels were also taken and proved to be over the legal limit.
Cruz was then taken to EIRMC for medical clearance and was booked into the Bonneville County Jail.
Deputies state in the police report that “it should be noted that it did not appear that either child had been restrained with their seatbelts. (Cruz) stated, however, that both children were wearing seatbelts.”
Deputies were later told by hospital staff that the young girl had suffered a “concussion, broken nose, and a large laceration over her eye and forehead.”
One person from each of the other two vehicles was also taken to EIRMC for their injuries. The extent of their injuries was never released.