15 TO LIFE FOR DRIVER WHO KILLED MOTORCYCLIST

Escondido man convicted in fatal crash last summer near Palomar Mountain

An Escondido man accused of driving drunk, veering into oncoming traffic and fatally striking a motorcyclist near Palomar Mountain was sentenced Monday to 15 years to life in prison.

Earlier this month, a Vista Superior Court jury found Eric Randall Cripe, 54, guilty of second-degree murder and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in the crash that killed Matthew Garrett Mylerberg, 33, last summer.

Mylerberg was on a ride with friends when he was struck and killed about 3:30 p.m. Aug. 22 on state Route 79 south of Aguanga Ranchos Road.

Cripe was headed north in his 2002 Toyota Tundra when he drifted off the east side of the highway, then overcorrected and veered into southbound lanes — and into the path of a 1991 Harley Davidson Sportster, the California Highway Patrol said.

The motorcycle and pickup collided, throwing Mylerberg from the bike. Mylerberg, who was from San Diego, was returning from a ride to Idyllwild. He died at the scene.

Deputy District Attorney David Uyar said Cripe had a blood alcohol content of 0.17 percent 2 1⁄2 hours after the crash. Drivers in California are considered legally intoxicated when their blood alcohol content is 0.08 percent or higher.

Cripe was sentenced by Superior

Court Judge Sim von Kalinowski.

Cripe’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

The fatal collision came five hours after Cripe was involved in a hit-andrun in Escondido, Uyar said. In that incident, Cripe’s pickup collided head-on with another truck, then Cripe drove off. No one was injured.

Cripe pleaded guilty to misdemeanor hit-and-run.

Uyar said Cripe had a 2007 misdemeanor conviction in Los Angeles for drunken driving, and that played a role in the decision to charge him with second-degree murder in the 2021 crash. The prosecutor also said Cripe had a 2000 arrest for drunken driving in Nevada.