SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — >> Editor's Note: The above video is from an earlier broadcast.
A 25-year-old man convicted of manslaughter for causing an alleged street racing crash in 2019 has been sentenced to prison.
Ramon Carrasco, who was found guilty last month in Maricopa County Superior Court, was sentenced last week to eight years in the Arizona Department of Corrections, public records show.
The defendant was also given five years in DOC for aggravated assault, a sentence that will run concurrent to the manslaughter offense.
Carrasco's charges stem from a fatal crash in Scottsdale that killed 68-year-old Cynthia Ann Fisher.
At the time of the incident, police said Carrasco was racing another driver when his vehicle smashed into Fisher's car. Carrasco sustained minor injuries and was quickly booked into jail for second-degree murder and aggravated assault charges.
Witnesses told police Carrasco and another driver revved up their engines at a stop light before they allegedly sped off onto Hayden Road, according to the Arizona Republic.
The jury acquitted Carrasco of second-degree murder but found him guilty of manslaughter.
The other driver, identified as 62-year-old Robert Foster, was also charged for his alleged involvement in the fatal crash. Police said in 2019 that the motorists were allegedly driving over 100 mph before the collision.
The defendants have attempted to dispute the notion they had planned to race each other through Scottsdale but the court found that the evidence suggested otherwise, records show.
"It is the timing and manor of the Defendants alleged actions both prior to the collision and after that would arguably demonstrate the alleged racing," a Maricopa County judge wrote in a ruling before Carrasco's trial.
Carrasco was notably not sentenced to prison for a street racing offense, which is a Class 1 misdemeanor for first-time offenders.
Foster's trial was interrupted earlier this year due to the defendant's medical condition and his criminal case appears to remain pending, court records show.
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Deaths on Arizona roads
Data from the Arizona Department of Transportation shows that roadway fatalities have been gradually rising in Arizona over the last decade:
- 2011: 825 deaths
- 2012: 821 deaths
- 2013: 844 deaths
- 2014: 774 deaths
- 2015: 895 deaths
- 2016: 952 deaths
- 2017: 1,000 deaths
- 2018: 1,010 deaths
- 2019: 982 deaths
- 2020: 1,057 deaths