Did this illegal alien have a driver's license?

Salinas man sentenced in hit-and-run death of niece
BY SUNITA VIJAYAN • svijayan@thecalifornian • May 28, 2009

A Salinas man was sentenced today to probation in the hit-and-run death of his niece last month, authorities said.

Steve Somers, a Monterey County deputy district attorney, said Efren Lopez Fletes, 35, pleaded Wednesday to misdemeanor charges of hit-and-run involving death and reckless driving involving alcohol.

The California Highway Patrol said officers arrested Fletes on April 24, two days after he ran over Emeralda Fletes with a sport-utility vehicle in the driveway of a home on the 26000 block of Encinal Road, off Old Stage Road just south of Salinas. The CHP said Esmeralda had been playing with her 6-year-old cousin at the time of the incident.

Somers said the girl's death was "completely an accident." Somers said investigators found that the girls had been pushing the rear bumper of the SUV as Fletes was pulling out of the home's garage. Fletes ran over Esmeralda as he was reversing, he said, not knowing that the girls were behind the SUV.

Somers said Fletes remains in county jail on an immigration hold.

"It's a horrible tragedy, but it had nothing to do with drinking," he said. "The family doesn't want to see him punished anymore."

http://thecalifornian.com/article/20090 ... 28018/1002