Hit-and-run driver pleads guilty to manslaughter in accident that killed sisters

A driver who fled the scene of an accident in Bay Terraces last year after ramming his pickup truck into a car, killing two sisters in the other vehicle, pleaded guilty Tuesday to vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run.

According to police, 55-year-old Tony Garcia drove his Ford F-150 into a Honda Civic that was turning left from Paradise Valley Road onto Munda Road in the early morning hours of May 14, 2023.

Garcia is scheduled to be sentenced next month to 14 years and eight months in prison for the 2:30 a.m. crash that killed 25-year-old Elizabeth Higuera Cano and 23-year-old Jazmin Higuera Cano, according to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office. The sisters died at the hospital, while the driver of the Civic and another passenger were injured.

Prosecutors allege the driver of the Civic was making a left turn on a green light with a green left arrow when Garcia’s truck ran a red light, crossed the intersection and struck the side of the Civic. Garcia then fled on foot, prosecutors said.

According to San Diego police, Garcia turned himself in “several hours” after the accident.

City News Service contributed to this article.