Felony manslaughter, DUI and other charges were filed Tuesday against the driver accused of running down and killing a Goleta couple who were walking their dog on Sunday evening.
The criminal complaint against Eric Maurcio Ramirez-Aguilar, 39, of Goleta includes two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, one count of hit-and-run causing death, and one count of driving under the influence causing great bodily injury, according to Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce Dudley.
Ramirez-Aguilar also faces special allegations of fleeing the scene of a fatal collision and injuring multiple victims.
He appeared in Superior Court in Santa Barbara Tuesday afternoon for arraignment, and entered not-guilty pleas to the charges.
He is due back in court on March 9 for a preliminary hearing setting in the case.
Mary Jane Becerra Corral and Adolfo Corral, both 44, suffered fatal injuries at about 5:15 p.m. Sunday when they were struck by a car — allegedly driven by Ramirez-Aguilar — while they strolled along a bike path that parallels Cathedral Oaks Road east of Ellwood Ridge Road, near the western edge of Goleta.
Adolfo Corral died at the scene, and Mary Jane Corral passed away a short time later at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
Ramirez-Aguilar allegedly fled the scene on foot, and was arrested more than three hours later in Carpinteria, where he was a passenger in a vehicle. Authorities have not revealed how he came to be in the car.
Ramirez-Aguilar was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail, where he remained Tuesday afternoon with bail set at more than $1 million.
Ramirez-Aguilar allegedly was intoxicated while behind the wheel of a blue Nissan 370Z Roadster convertible that was westbound on Cathedral Oaks Road, west of Brandon Drive.
Orange paint markers placed by investigators at the scene and tire tracks through the vegetation show that, after leaving the curving section of roadway, Ramirez-Aguilar’s car continued along the bike path and through the adjacent grass and shrubs for at least 100 yards before coming to a stop, perpendicular to the roadway, against a chain-link fence.
Authorities have not said how fast they believe the vehicle was traveling at the time of the crash.
Superior Court records show that Ramirez-Aguilar is on probation after pleading no contest to two counts of misdemeanor child cruelty stemming from an incident in November 2018.
Judge Thomas Adams placed Ramirez-Aguilar on supervised probation for four years, and included conditions that he abstain from all drugs and alcohol, and attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings twice a week.
Court records also show that he was due in court Tuesday morning for a hearing on an alleged probation violation.
Mary Jane Becerra Corral was a computer specialist at Goleta Union School District, and Adolfo Corral was the equity, diversity, and cultural competency coordinator at Santa Barbara City College.
The couple leave behind four children — 20-year-old Azalea, 17-year-old Dahlia, 14-year-old Dominic and 10-year-old Rose — and a large extended family.
A community vigil was held for them Monday evening near the crash site.
A GoFundMe account has been set up for the family, and as of Tuesday night, it had raised $168,110 of a $300,000 goal.
Services for the couple were pending on Tuesday.
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.