Trial Opens For OC Driver Accused Of Plowing Into Crowd While Impaired

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — A 27-year-old man was high on marijuana and a street version of Xanax when he "decided to swerve" his pickup truck into a crowd of pedestrians on a sidewalk in downtown Fullerton, injuring nine victims, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday, while the defendant's attorney said his client was fleeing gang members and that illegally idling ride-share drivers were to blame for the crash.

Christopher Jose Solis of Anaheim is charged with a count of driving under the influence of a drug causing injury, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, failing to stop at a hit-and-run collision with injury or death, all felonies, as well as misdemeanor counts of hit-and-run with property damage and possession of a controlled substance.

Solis also faces multiple sentencing enhancements for great bodily injury to the victims.

He is accused of plowing into the crowd of pedestrians just before 1:50 a.m. on Feb. 10, 2019.

Solis "made a calculated decision to swerve onto the sidewalk ... into a crowd of people," Deputy District Attorney Caitlin Harrington said.

Riley Hoover sustained complex facial fractures and was left with "lifelong injuries," Harrington said.

Another victim sustained a dislocated hip, while a woman suffered a broken pelvis, the prosecutor added. One man suffered a burned foot, she added. Another woman's teeth were cracked.

Three victims, including Hoover, have sued Lyft and Uber in connection with the collision. The lawsuit is waiting to go to trial after Solis' trial.

Shortly after midnight that evening, Solis was pulled over by California Highway Patrol officers on the San Diego (5) Freeway in Mission Viejo and cited and released for driving under the influence of marijuana and Xanax, Harrington said.

The defendant continued on to a music studio in Santa Ana where he smoked marijuana, Harrington said. From there, he drove to downtown Fullerton where there are a lot of clubs and restaurants, the prosecutor said.

When he got back into his Toyota Tacoma he "zoomed down an alley on Santa Fe" where he first collided with a car driven by Uber driver Hector Quiroz, one of the alleged victims in the case against Solis, Harrington said.

Hoover's family also named Quiroz as a defendant in the civil suit.

The prosecutor showed video from one of the cars just before the crash that showed Solis swerving out of the way before the collisions.

"Defendant hopped a planter and collided with a tree ... the only thing that stopped him," Harrington said.

Multiple bystanders angrily confronted Solis and a fight broke out as they detained him until police arrived, Harrington said. Some of the bystanders lifted the defendant's truck up to free two of the trapped victims, the prosecutor added.

Solis told police that, "These drunk people got in my way," Harrington alleged. "There's zero accountability for the choice that he made," she said.

Solis failed field sobriety tests, the prosecutor said.

"It was clear the defendant was impaired by something," Harrington said. The "white and green film" he had on his mouth was consistent with marijuana ingestion, Harrington said.

Blood tests showed he had marijuana in his system as well as flualprazolam, which is "the version (of Xanax) you get on the street ... for partying," Harrington alleged. Fullerton police found three more of the depressant pills in the truck, she said.

Solis' attorney, Alan Spears, said the prosecution's case was a "gross oversimplification" of what happened.

"The Fullerton police rushed to judgment," he said. Spears said that he would "prove" that his client "while maybe the proximate cause of this accident, is not criminally responsible."

He added that the jurors would "have to consider whether Uber and Lyft drivers were negligent." The attorney said the drivers' alleged double parking to pick up fares may have "broken the chain of causation."

Solis had visited an area of Santa Ana plagued with gang violence, Spears said. Solis has no criminal record and no background with gangs, his attorney said.

Solis had gotten into a dispute with some patrons of a bar in Santa Ana who chased after him and pounded on his truck as he attempted to drive away, Spears said.

"He was in fear for his life trying to get away from these people and he had a legal right to do that," Spears said.

The ride-share and taxi drivers have a designated area to park to pick up their patrons, but they were not using them, Spears said.

Solis' "brains were scrambled a little bit" after crashing into a tree and getting beaten by the angry mob, Spears said.

The defendant plans to have an expert testify that an event data recorder retrieved from Solis' truck will show he was only going about 11 mph when he swerved away from one of the ride-share vehicles, Spears said.

Another expert is expected to testify that the drug ingestion did not impair Solis' driving, Spears said.

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