L.A. County District Attorney George Gascón announced the arrest Wednesday of a former L.A. County sheriff's deputy in the death of a 12-year-old boy in November 2021.
Authorities said Ricardo Castro, who at the time of the collision an off-duty, crashed into another car while driving significantly past the speed limit in a school zone. He was not on duty.
Castro allegedly T-boned a car at an estimated 90 mph in a 25 mph school zone. The driver of the car he struck, a 19-year-old woman, was severely injured. The passenger, her 12 year-old brother Isaiah Rodriguez, was also severely injured and later died at the hospital.
Castro is being charged with vehicular manslaughter, murder, and reckless driving.
“The deputy showed a conscious disregard for the lives and safety of the people of South Gate by recklessly speeding on a busy street, Gascón said. "The behavior is even more confounding since this happened in an area designated as a zone where school children were present."
Castro, 28, had a record of traffic collisions and tickets for speeding, according to the DA. He was a passenger in another fatal car crash three months before the collision that killed the child. Since the collision, he has been dismissed from the L.A. County Sheriff's Department.
Castro is being held at the Twin Tower Correctional Facility in Los Angeles on $2 million bail. He appeared in court today, but his arraignment was continued until March 23. A bail review hearing is set for February 22.
A significant part of Gascón's campaign to defeat Jackie Lacey in 2020 centered around his promise to hold law enforcement members responsible for their actions. In his few full year in office, the department says it "filed charges against 21 officers from seven agencies for crimes ranging from murder to filing a false report under penalty of perjury." Since he was elected, Gascón has faced multiple unsuccessful recall attempts.
