LI Man Guilty Plea For Drunken Crash That Killed 6-Year-Old: Nassau DA

MINEOLA, NY — A Freeport has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, assault and other charges for a drunken driving crash last summer that killed a six-year-old girl, prosecutors announced.

Jorge Bonilla Gutierrez, 18, pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault, two counts of third-degree assault and driving while intoxicated.

"Jorge Bonilla Gutierrez was more than two times the legal limit for alcohol when he flew through a red light and slammed into the back of a Toyota Corolla, sending the vehicle into a tree and killing six-year-old Katerine Vanges Hernandez," said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly.

On August 7, 2023, at approximately 2:20 a.m., Bonilla Gutierrez was drunken driving, speeding and drove through a red light in West Hempstead, when he crashed into the vehicle's car, Donnelly said.

The victim's Toyota Corolla was stopped in the right lane on Hempstead Turnpike with the hazard lights on. The victim was two days shy of her seventh birthday.