Edward Minot Jr., 20, a Marine with the 1st Maintenance Battalion, pleaded not guilty to murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, and two counts of DUI charges in connection with the death of 12-year-old Santiago Gaspar.
A Camp Pendleton Marine accused of driving under the influence in a crash that killed a 12-year-old boy in Oceanside on the Fourth of July pleaded not guilty to all charges on Friday.
Edward Minot Jr., 20, a Marine with the 1st Maintenance Battalion, pleaded not guilty to murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, and two counts of DUI charges in connection with the death of 12-year-old Santiago Gaspar.
Gaspar had just come from watching the Fourth of July fireworks with his little brother and a family friend when Minot crashed into their car at a high rate of speed. Oceanside Police (OPD) said they had attempted to pull over Minot, who was driving a white Volkswagen GTI with no lights on when he failed to yield, sped off and crashed into the Nissan Altima that Gaspar was in.
Police arrived to find Gaspar dead at the scene. The crash was reported near Mission Avenue and Myers Street, OPD said.
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The Altima’s driver, 27, and Gaspar's younger brother, 6, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, OPD said. Minot and his passenger suffered non-life-threatening injuries. All four were taken to a local hospital.
Gaspar's mother was driving ahead of them in a different car at the time of the crash, but did not witness it, according to the boy's aunt.
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According to a neighbor, the crash sounded like a bomb, but since it was the Fourth of July, she suspected it was fireworks.
"I texted my daughter asking if the dogs were okay and I didn’t know she was upstairs and she came to my bedroom door and said, 'No, something terrible has happened in the alley,'" Nancy Bellante said. "It was terrible. There was a little boy that was standing there crying and I thought that his mother had been injured but it wasn't, it was his brother."
The investigation is ongoing but police suspect that both alcohol and speed were a factor in the crash, OPD said.
"I don't care if the kid was only 20 years old, it's ridiculous," Bellante said. "He killed a child, he ruined a family’s life. That poor little boy is going to be traumatized for the rest of his life and it's just carelessness."
Minot is expected back in court on July 18. He faces 16 years to life if convicted.
Anyone with information regarding this collision is asked to call Oceanside Police Department Traffic Collision Investigator David Paul at (760) 435-4431.
