Trial ordered for teen charged in DUI deaths of father and son

A 19-year-old driver accused of being under the influence of drugs and speeding when he plowed into another car on a Poway road — killing a father and his 13year-old son — was ordered Monday to stand trial on felony charges.

Donald Lee Farmer, who prosecutors allege was under the inf luence of marijuana and Xanax at the time of the crash, is charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in the deaths of Stephen Pirolli, 54, and his son, Stephen Pirolli Jr.

Farmer’s Mercedes sedan broadsided the Pirollis’ Toyota sedan around 7 p.m. Feb. 12 on Espola Road. The elder Pirolli died at the scene, while his son was taken to Rady Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

According to testimony from a preliminary hearing in San Diego Superior Court, Stephen had attended baseball practice that night at Poway High School. The father and son were turning left out of a parking lot at the school when they were struck.

Sheriff ’s Deputy Nathaniel Bier testified that reconstruction of the crash scene indicated Farmer was driving around 90 mph. The speed limit on that stretch of Espola Road is 45 mph.

Deputy Ryan Christy testified that Farmer told him he was driving around 45-50 mph at the time. He told Christy that the Pirollis’ vehicle was driving in the lane to his right when their car suddenly made a U-turn in front of him.

Farmer had a learner’s permit, but not a driver’s license at the time. Under California law, drivers with learner’s permits may drive only while a driver’s license holder who is at least 25 years old is riding with them.

Farmer was alone in the car. One witness told Christy that he pulled Farmer out of his car. Farmer allegedly asked the witness to get his marijuana out of the car.

Bier testified that 10 to 15 THC cartridges used in e-cigarettes were found inside Farmer’s trunk and that more cartridges were found dumped in nearby bushes. Christy testified that Farmer said he had smoked marijuana and taken Xanax that morning.

Farmer was arrested in May.