Tulare County Man Sentenced for Deadly DUI Crash, Jail Assault on Officer

A Tulare County man was sentenced Monday to 26 years in state prison for a 2020 DUI crash that killed a woman and a separate assault on a deputy while in custody, court records show.

Tulare County District Attorney’s Office said Oscar Lopez-Almeida, 33, was sentenced in Department 21 of the South County Justice Center after pleading no contest May 15 to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, DUI causing injury, driving on a suspended license following a prior DUI conviction, and assault with a deadly weapon.

Prosecutors said Lopez-Almeida swerved his Honda Civic into oncoming traffic just before 6 p.m. March 6, 2020, near Avenue 184 and Road 64 southwest of Tulare, striking another vehicle and killing the passenger’s wife.

A breath test showed a blood-alcohol level of 0.187%, according to court records. He received 25 years for the DUI case, the maximum allowed under California law.

Prosecutors also said Lopez-Almeida was involved in a February 2024 fight at the Bob Wiley Detention Facility, where he battered a sheriff’s deputy, resulting in an additional one-year sentence.

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