Crime & Safety
Trial Date Set for Man Accused of Vehicular Manslaughter in Ramona
Garrett Sparks faces up to six years in state prison if convicted.
An April 22 trial date has been set for Garrett Sparks, a Lakeside man accused of causing a head-on crash in Ramona that left a 74-year-old man dead.
Sparks will stand trial on a felony charge of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. He faces up to six years in state prison if convicted.
Sparks was arrested shortly after the Aug. 29 collision, which occurred on San Vicente Road south of Warnock Drive about 7:40 p.m.
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Sparks told authorities he took his eyes off the road for at least 10 seconds while he was reaching for items that had fallen onto his truck's floorboard from the passenger seat, the California Highway Patrol reported last year.
His southbound 2007 Ford Ranger drifted into oncoming traffic at about 50 mph and stuck a northbound 2000 Ford Ranger driven by Kenneth Frederick Crane of Ramona.
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Crane was pronounced dead at the scene from multiple blunt force injuries, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office. Sparks was uninjured.
-City News Service contributed to this report.
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