- Josue Yahir Hernandez-Perez pleaded guilty to manslaughter, admitting to killing Douglas Rodriguez, a passenger in his car.
- Hernandez-Perez crashed while fleeing police and under the influence after quickly leaving a party when police arrived to respond to a shooting.
- Two others were sentenced last year in cases related to the shooting.
SALT LAKE CITY — A 22-year-old man has admitted responsibility for the death of a passenger in his car, who was killed when the vehicle crashed while he was fleeing from police in Salt Lake City.
Charging documents said Josue Yahir Hernandez-Perez, who was also injured in the 2023 crash, had three times the legal limit of alcohol in his system when he was admitted into the hospital. He pleaded guilty as charged on Aug. 29 to manslaughter, a second-degree felony, waiving his right to a jury trial.
About 12:15 a.m. on Oct. 8, 2023, Salt Lake police responded to reports of a shooting near 876 S. Edison Street. While on their way to the address, officers saw a Mercedes leaving the area at a high rate of speed and attempted to pull it over due to its possible connection to the shooting, charging documents said.
About a minute later, the Mercedes hit the curb at a roundabout near 1100 East and 900 South, went airborne, hit a tree on the passenger side, and came to rest on the driver's side. A passenger, 21-year-old Douglas Rodriguez, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Data from the car suggested it was traveling 71 mph in the seconds before the crash, and the driver and passenger were not wearing seat belts, according to charges.
Police body camera footage shows Hernandez-Perez calling out for help as officers approach the car, saying, "I can't breathe" and "I can't get out."
He tells officers there are two people in the car, and that Rodriquez, who was directly on top of him in the driver's seat, is "not talking."
A police booking affidavit said Hernandez-Perez later told detectives that Rodriguez was anxious when police arrived at the party, started "tripping" and asked him to flee.
The car "went over a center median, a sidewalk, and into a grassy lawn. The vehicle was also observed to not be on any of its four wheels," a booking affidavit said.
After spending about a month in jail, Hernandez-Perez was released on home confinement in November 2023. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 23. The statutory sentence for manslaughter, a second-degree felony, is one to 15 years in prison.
In December 2023, police arrested two others associated with the shooting that prompted their response to the party. Charging documents said Andre Alexis Cienfuegos-Ruiz, 21, was identified as the gunman who fired several shots, hitting one man in the right leg. He was sentenced in 2024 to three to 15 years in prison for felony discharge of a firearm, a second-degree felony, and zero to five years in prison for use of a firearm as a restricted person, a third-degree felony. Those sentences were ordered to run at the same time.
Rene Chacon, 21, admitted to driving Cienfuegos-Ruiz from the scene, according to charges filed against him. He pleaded guilty in May 2024 to obstruction of justice, a third-degree felony, and was ordered to serve three years of probation and 44 days in jail, which he had already completed prior to sentencing.
