A family of five was killed in a fatal traffic accident on the corner of Main Street and Balsam Avenue in Hesperia on Sunday, May 11, 2014
VICTORVILLE — A 32-year-old man who crashed into a car carrying a family of five on Mother's Day 2014, killing them all, is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 30 after pleading guilty to five misdemeanors, court records show.Joshua Caleb Smith pleaded guilty to five counts of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter without negligence in connection to the early morning May 11, 2014 crash. He initially pleaded not guilty to the charges after they were filed nearly a year later, but his change of plea came during a hearing Oct. 14, according to court records.Smith was driving a delivery van east on Main Street in Hesperia when the van crossed into westbound lanes and collided with a Honda sedan idling at a stop sign on Balsam Avenue, authorities said."The impact caused the delivery van to overturn, come into contact with a telephone pole and come to rest on the car," San Bernardino County Sheriff's Sgt. Doug Hubbard said at the time.About six weeks after the crash, authorities said drowsiness from prescription drugs was the cause and ruled out speed and vehicular problems as possible factors."It wasn't like what you see all the time where someone leaves a bar drunk with twice the legal limit of alcohol," Hubbard had said. "It's not just alcohol, you can drive under the influence of prescription drugs too and he just fell asleep. We don't believe he even knew he left the roadway."The victims, who had been on their way to Disnelyand, were identified as Gerardo Cruz Jimenez, 30; Angelica Garcia, 25; Cindy Jimenez Garcia, 3; Ivan Jimenez Garcia, 2; and Freddy Garcia, 9, all of Hesperia.In June, the Hesperia City Council voted unanimously to authorize installing a raised center median on Main Street from Cottonwood to Eleventh avenues in an effort to make that roughly 600-foot stretch safer, a move also made at least partly in response to public calls for action following the Mother's Day crash.Smith faces a maximum of five years in prison, the District Attorney's office said at the time charges were announced.Meanwhile, it's possible that victim impact statements will be heard during the Oct. 30 sentencing.