Drunk-Driving Suspect Arrested in Fatal Crash

SANTA ANA — Two Garden Grove men who had been drinking after work late Tuesday crashed into a parked truck, killing one of them and critically injuring the other, Santa Ana police said.

The injured driver, Cesar Arroyo, 26, had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit, according to a preliminary test after the crash, Police Sgt. Steve Despenas said. Arroyo was arrested on suspicion of felony drunk driving and is expected to be charged with involuntary manslaughter, Despenas said.

His passenger, Lino Ruiz, 31, died at the scene of the 10:30 p.m. crash, police said.

Arroyo was driving north in the 1000 block of Euclid Street when he lost control near Edinger Avenue, police said. The car veered into the parked truck, and Ruiz sustained massive head trauma, Despenas said. Arroyo had a broken nose and cuts on his face and was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange.

Investigators found four empty bottles of tequila and another that was two-thirds full in the wrecked car, Despenas said. They are trying to determine if the men had been drinking from those bottles or if they were empty before the crash, he said.

Police said the men had been drinking together after their shift at work, but Despenas did not know where they worked.