Sheriff's deputy charged in South Gate crash that left 12-year-old boy dead

A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy has been charged with murder and other counts stemming from a high-speed, off-duty crash in South Gate that left a 12-year-old boy dead, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said on Wednesday.

Ricardo Castro, 28, faces one count each of murder, vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving causing great bodily injury in connection with the Nov. 3, 2021, crash.

Isaiah Suarez Rodriguez was killed, while his older sister was injured along with Castro and his passenger, the District Attorney's Office said.

An investigation showed that the off-duty deputy may have been traveling at speeds nearing 95 mph in a 25-mph school zone as he approached Firestone Boulevard and San Juan Avenue, where the boy's sister was waiting to make a left turn at 3:55 p.m., the county's top prosecutor said at a news conference in South Gate.

“Driving at 95 miles per hour was nearly quadruple the speed limit when school children are present,” the district attorney told reporters.

“Mr. Castro was also involved as a passenger in a fatal traffic collision just three months prior to this fatal collision,” Gascón said. “Mr. Castro's recklessness ended the life of a boy with an entire future ahead of him and destroyed a family.”

South Gate Police Chief Darren Arakawa said the boy was an “innocent child” who “didn't stand a chance in that crash.”

The police chief said the off-duty deputy's Ford pickup broadsided the Mercedes-Benz with the boy and his sister.

“First of all, I want to say that I love my son,” the boy's mother said. “I love you, Isaiah, and I miss you every single day.”

She said the boy, who had decided three days earlier to be baptized, was out that afternoon to get a ruler for a classmate whose ruler had been taken away while being bullied.