FREMONT — It started as a get together between two young adults who’d just met, and ended with a man accidentally killing his date in a car crash, then running from the area and calling a friend for a ride, according to police.
Now, 23-year-old Ivan Mejia, of Hayward, is facing charges of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, leaving the scene of an accident, and driving under the influence. It all stems from the May 11, 2024 single-vehicle crash on Interstate 880 in Fremont, where Mejia’s passenger, 19-year-old Citlaly Morales Martinez, was thrown clear of the vehicle and killed, according to court records.
The criminal complaint says Mejia has a prior misdemeanor DUI conviction in Santa Clara County, which occurred two years before the fatal crash.
Police say that a little after 3 a.m., Mejia made an “unsafe” right turn across an off-ramp in his 2011 Infiniti G37, causing the Infiniti to crash down a dirt embankment, overturn multiple times and land belly up at the bottom of the hill. Police needed a drone to Morales Martinez’s body, and their inspection of the car indicated she hadn’t been wearing a seatbelt, according to court records.
After the crash, Mejia allegedly ran away, called a friend for a ride to another friend’s nearby home in Hayward. That same afternoon, police received a call from Mejia’s lawyer, and asked him to convince Mejia to turn himself in. The lawyer stated he didn’t believe the investigators were really police officers and discontinued the call, according to court records. Mejia turned himself in two days later.
One of Morales Martinez’s friends later told police that she had gone on a date the night of the May 10 with Mejia, a man she’d just met, authorities said.
Alameda County prosecutors charged Mejia on Sept. 10. He has not yet had his first court appearance and is out of custody, according to court records.