Boyle Heights taco stand crash: Driver charged with killing 11-year-old girl while high on nitrous oxide

Thursday, November 1, 2018
BOYLE HEIGHTS, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A man has been charged with killing an 11-year-old girl at a Boyle Heights taco stand while he was allegedly driving under the influence of nitrous oxide last year, prosecutors announced Thursday.

Elektra Yepez, who lived in the neighborhood where the crash occurred, died after being rushed to a hospital. Her mother and two aunts also were injured in the evening collision on Nov. 10, 2017.

Joe Louis Perez, 22, faces one felony count each of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence of a drug causing injury, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said in a statement.

MORE: Mourners pay their respects to Elektra Yepez at makeshift memorial
Girl ID'd after fatal crash near Boyle Heights taco stand

Four passengers were in his vehicle at the time of the fatal incident. None of them were seriously injured.

Perez, a Boyle Heights resident, is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom.

The defendant faces up to 13 years and eight months in prison if convicted as charged, according to the D.A.'s Office. Prosecutors recommended his bail be set at $230,000.
Copyright © 2024 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.