Share
A Charlotte man was charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with a weekend wreck that left two people dead, including a toddler.
Oscar Francisco Garcia-Fuentes, 23, also faces three counts of felony hit-and-run in connection with the Saturday accident.
The wreck occurred around 2:20 a.m. Saturday at the intersection of North Sharon Amity and Albemarle Road. Witnesses told police that the driver of a 2001 Ford Mustang “was accelerating through the intersection at a speed well above the speed limit” before the collision, a CMPD news release said.
Witnesses told police the Mustang sped through a stoplight without his headlights on and ran into the side of a sedan traveling on Albemarle Road. They said the man then fled the Mustang.
Tony Gabriel, 26, of Charlotte, the driver of the Mazda that was struck, was killed, along with an 18-month-old boy who was in the back seat of the car. The child’s name was not released by police.
The boy’s mother, 24-year-old Brittany Massey, was taken to Carolinas Medical Center with injuries that weren’t life-threatening, police said.
On Sunday, police said their investigation led them to Garcia-Fuentes.
After a daylong investigation, police arrested Garcia-Fuentes on Saturday evening. He was being held in the Mecklenburg County jail on Sunday on $375,000 secured bond.
He is expected to make a first court appearance on Tuesday.
Garcia-Fuentes was previously found guilty of driving while license revoked in January 2011. He served probation and a suspended sentence for that.
Angela Blake, one of Gabriel’s aunts, said in an email that she was glad to hear that someone had been charged. “Now my family can have peace of mind it really bothered me that someone would commit such a horrible act and not have a conscience,” she wrote.
On Sunday, Blake described Gabriel as “a very caring person.”
