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A former Los Angeles County deputy has been charged with murder after killing a 12-year-old boy and injuring two others in a car crash while he was off-duty.
Officials said that Ricardo Castro, 28, was zooming through a school zone at 95 mph when his pickup truck slammed into a Mercedes making a left turn. Isaiah Suarez Rodriguez was killed in the crash, and his adult sister was seriously injured. A woman who was a passenger in Castro's truck was also injured.
Castro was also charged with vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving, causing great bodily injury.
"Driving at 95 mph was nearly quadruple the speed limit when schoolchildren are present, which shows a conscious disregard for those children's lives," Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said. "Mr. Castro's recklessness ended the life of a boy with an entire future ahead of him and destroyed a family," he added.
Castro was put on administrative leave after the crash and then relieved of his duty without pay when he was charged.
Before the fatal crash, Castro was also involved in other collisions and had received multiple traffic tickets.