Driver’s blood-alcohol content more than twice the legal limit in Serra Mesa fatal crash, officials say

SAN DIEGO  — 

A man who allegedly drove the wrong way down Interstate 15 in Serra Mesa while drunk and crashed head-on into another car, killing a woman and injuring the victim’s teenage daughter, pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges that include gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

Andres James Cox, 25, is accused in the Aug. 28 death of 32-year-old Yannira Rodriguez, who died at the scene of the 1:30 a.m. crash on southbound I-15. Cox is also accused of injuring Rodriguez’s 13-year-old daughter, who was riding in the front passenger seat.

Deputy District Attorney Spencer Sharpe said that Cox’s blood-alcohol level at the scene measured 0.18 percent, which is more than twice the legal driving limit in California.

The prosecutor said Cox “didn’t even know he was driving the wrong way on the freeway,” failed a series of field sobriety tests, and a drug recognition expert at a hospital concluded Cox was also under the influence of marijuana.

Cox has since remained out of custody on $500,000 bail.

While Sharpe asked for Cox to be held without bail, defense attorney Michael Hernandez argued Cox has no prior criminal history and did not present a danger to the community as he is currently enrolled in an “intensive” outpatient treatment program in which he is regularly tested for drugs and alcohol.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Theodore Weathers allowed Cox to remain out of custody on the bail already posted but set certain conditions such as prohibitions against driving, requirements to wear alcohol- and drug-monitoring devices, and to continue his treatment.

After the arraignment, Rodriguez’s sister, Zulma Beckfield-Rodriguez, said: “I politely disagree with the decision that was made … Decisions have consequences, and I feel that there’s more that could have been done to protect the public.”

While Rodriguez’s daughter underwent reconstructive surgery for facial injuries she sustained, Beckfield-Rodriguez said, “Thankfully, there was no brain damage. There was no internal damage. For what the accident was, it’s a miracle she didn’t have more injuries.”

Beckfield-Rodriguez said her sister recently graduated from San Diego State University and was pursuing a master’s degree in business.

A GoFundMe page that was created to assist Rodriguez’s daughter says Rodriguez “was a single mother who always put her daughter first” and “had always worked so hard to be a great mother, provider, and example for her daughter.”