A Carlsbad man pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and faces up to nine years in prison.

Jose Manuel Zambrano Cruz entered the plea Wednesday, Sept. 23, in a Vista courtroom for a Sept. 10, 2024, crash that killed a pedestrian on Las Palmas Drive, as first reported by Patch, citing City News Service. He also pleaded guilty to DUI causing injury and hit-and-run causing death.

The victim, 23-year-old Karla Guillen of San Diego, was struck as she exited her vehicle, according to the Patch report citing police. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Carlsbad Police Department said officers responded to the 2200 block of Las Palmas Drive at 12:37 a.m. after a collision involving a vehicle and a pedestrian. A witness told police the Volkswagen Jetta driven by Zambrano Cruz had been traveling eastbound at a high rate of speed before it crashed into three parked cars and then hit Guillen.

Zambrano Cruz, 26 at the time, fled the scene after the collision, according to police. Officers located him in the 6600 block of El Camino Real, just over a mile from the crash site, and placed him under arrest. He was booked into the Vista Detention Facility on felony hit-and-run, DUI causing injury or death and vehicular manslaughter charges.

The collision also caused a power outage and road closure in the industrial area near Camino Vida Roble, the department posted on X on Sept. 10, 2024.

The case was prosecuted in San Diego County Superior Court's North County division in Vista. No sentencing date has been announced. Zambrano Cruz faces a maximum of nine years in state prison.

In a separate Sept. 1 press release announcing a DUI checkpoint, Carlsbad Police Sgt. Conrad Page-DeMorst said impaired drivers "put others on the road at significant risk."

Carlsbad Police Cpl. Matt Bowen, a traffic accident investigator, led the original crash investigation. Anyone with information can contact the Carlsbad Police Traffic Division at 442-339-2282.