In 'ghastly' incident, woman gets 13 years, 8 months for killing her child while driving intoxicated
Feb. 9—The pain cuts sharp and deep for parents who mourn their child's death — but one woman must forever endure knowing her actions while driving intoxicated with her 7-year-old daughter led to the girl's death.
This mother, Wendy Garcia, 37, was sentenced Thursday to 13 years, 8 months in prison by a Kern County Superior Court judge. She pleaded no contest to gross vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence and willful cruelty to a child in a crash where she loaded her five children into a car after imbibing several drinks, and one child was ejected from the vehicle while it rolled over several times near Edwards Air Force Base nearly two years ago, according to investigatory reports by the California Highway Patrol.
"This was an unfortunate tragic ghastly accident and Ms. Garcia is completely devastated," Deputy Public Defender Benjamin Nkwonta wrote in an email. "She will live the rest of her life with this incident on her conscience, no doubt suffering exquisite remorse for causing the death of her child."
Garcia had no reaction as Superior Court Judge Eric Bradshaw sentenced her Thursday. Out of the 16 charges prosecutors alleged, 13 were dismissed. Deputy District Attorney Tara Deal did not return a request for comment.
Garcia, from Richland, Wash., was visiting her parents in Rosamond in May 2021 when she got into an argument with someone whose name is redacted in CHP's reports. A few witnesses told officers they saw Garcia start drinking in the afternoon and she kept on consuming alcohol until about 7 to 9 p.m.
After the argument, Garcia rounded up her children and piled them into her Chevrolet Tahoe. A passenger in the car said Garcia was having a hard time driving, almost hit multiple parked cars and at one point got lost on a dead-end street, the CHP wrote in its reports.
Garcia soon steered the car off the road, drove over two raised curbs and hit a boulder, the report stated. That caused the Chevrolet Tahoe to roll over several times and one person was ejected from the vehicle, the report added.
Personnel working on Edwards Air Force Base witnessed the collision and ran over, trying to help the children, all with varying injuries. One worker spotted Garcia performing CPR on her child, and began encouraging Garcia to keep going — but then was punched in the face by Garcia, according to a witness statement included in CHP's investigatory reports.
A small girl lay in a pool of blood as a witness attempted to treat her wounds and perform CPR, the reports state. But Garcia began to attack this witness, too, and had to be held down by other Edwards Air Force Base personnel.
She screamed foul language and kicked and spit in a person's face, according to many witness statements.
"Let me see my babies," Garcia cried, according to a written witness statement included in CHP's investigatory reports.
When Garcia's children were interviewed, they told CHP officers their mother had been in trouble for driving under the influence before. They also said their mother didn't ensure they wore seat belts, the reports state.
One boy in the collision had a minor cut to his arm, another girl had a contusion to the left side of her face and complained of back pain, the reports added. Another child wasn't injured.
Another girl had multiple head contusions, facial fractures and head fractures, but survived, the report said.
Garcia refused to let the CHP draw blood or perform a field sobriety test, the reports added. Her blood alcohol level was 0.15 after officers executed a search warrant to obtain her blood, CHP wrote.
You can reach Ishani Desai at 661-395-7417. You can also follow her at @_ishanidesai on Twitter.
