By Emiley Morgan
Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY — Just one day after his 27th birthday, a Salt Lake man pleaded guilty Tuesday to driving under the influence and killing a paramedic.
Gabriel Perez-Guiterez entered guilty pleas to charges of automobile homicide, a second-degree felony, and driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, a class A misdemeanor, in the crash that killed Jonathan Bowers, 31.
It was around 6 a.m. on May 22 in the intersection of 6200 South and 4015 West, when a car traveling at a high rate of speed smashed into Bowers’ vehicle, pushing it into two other cars.
Bowers spent a week in the hospital before succumbing to his injuries.
Perez-Guiterez ran from the accident scene, but was later found hiding in a window well and was arrested.
Bowers had worked for Gold Cross Ambulance for about six years at the time of his death.
He was going to school at the University of Utah, even though his family said he was a die-hard BYU sports fan, for his Emergency Medical Management degree and with the hopes of possibly working for FEMA one day.
He was expected to graduate in August and intern with a local fire department.
Additional charges of failure to remain at the scene of an accident involving death, a third-degree felony, and various other misdemeanor charges were dropped against Perez-Guiterez in exchange for the man’s plea.
Sentencing in the matter has been set for April 27.
Copyright 2012 The Deseret News Publishing Co.