Driver pleads no contest in Santa Rosa fatal drunken-driving crash

A Santa Rosa man pleaded no contest Wednesday in a drunken-driving crash that killed an elderly man standing outside his car.

Enrique Sanabria-Ruiz, 47, faces up to eight years in prison for the May 13 crash that killed Earnest Slone, 81, also of Santa Rosa.

Slone was getting into his 1969 Cadillac on Occidental Road, just west of Stony Point Road, when he was hit by Sanabria-Ruiz.

Breath testing at the scene showed the driver had a 0.10 percent blood-alcohol level. He was charged with three felonies, including vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

An allegation of drunken driving causing great bodily injury to an elderly victim increased his prison exposure from four to eight years, prosecutors said.

He will be sentenced Sept. 18.

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ppayne.