L.B. man pleads guilty after nearly killing teen

Drunk driver who dragged LBHS student 600 feet sentenced to eight years in prison

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A Long Beach man who struck a 15-year-old Long Beach High School student on Labor Day and dragged her underneath his Jeep for an entire block will spend eight years in prison.

German Gutierrez, 50, pleaded guilty on May 16 to the top charge of first-degree-assault, depraved indifference, aggravated driving while intoxicated, and leaving the scene of an accident with serious physical injury, in exchange for a promised sentence of eight years in prison from Judge Tammy Robbins.

Rice said that just before 9 p.m. on Sept. 3, Gutierrez was driving his 2002 Jeep Liberty eastbound on East Beech Street without his headlights on when he drove through a stop sign at Edwards Boulevard and struck Long Beach High School student Sarah Colletti, who was walking her bicycle southbound across the street. Rather than stopping to help, Gutierrez kept driving, pinning Colletti beneath her bike and dragging her under his vehicle for more than 600 feet between Edwards and Riverside boulevards.

After the victim fell away from the vehicle, Rice said that Gutierrez continued driving, striking a parked vehicle and driving on the sidewalk before coming to a stop in the street and falling out of his vehicle.

Colletti suffered such serious road rash injuries to the left side of her body that her knee and elbow joints were exposed, Rice said. She had multiple surgeries during her month-long stay in the hospital to remove road debris from her wounds. Extensive skin grafts have resulted in permanent scarring, and she suffered an injury to the tendons in her left hand that will require a series of corrective surgeries.

Gutierrez told officers at the scene that he had consumed “like, a thousand drinks,” and hadn’t technically killed anyone. He registered a blood-alcohol content reading of .30 percent, nearly four times the legal limit, five hours after the incident.

“The physical and emotional scars this brave young woman has suffered will be a constant reminder of the horrors she suffered at the hand of this defendant, but today’s guilty plea ensures that Mr. Gutierrez pays a serious price for his crime,” Rice said.

Assistant District Attorney Katie Zizza of the Vehicular Crimes Bureau is prosecuting the case for the D.A.’s Office. Gutierrez is represented by Kevin Connolly, Esq.