Police say they arrested a 30-year-old Whittier man on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence for his role in a wrong-way crash that killed a 26-year-old man in the Wrigley neighborhood exactly two years ago.
The crash happened shortly after 4:05 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2023, near the intersection of Magnolia Avenue and Hill Street, according to Long Beach police.
Police said Ivan Olarte-Torres, 31, was speeding and driving the wrong way in a 2021 Hyundai sedan when he collided head-on with a 1996 Toyota sedan on the southbound side of Magnolia Avenue, police said.
The impact sent the Toyota careening into several parked cars and left its driver, later identified as 26-year-old Roberto Rodriguez, dead at the scene, police said.
Olarte-Torres was taken to a hospital in critical condition, but eventually recovered, police said.
On Tuesday, detectives arrested Olarte-Torres outside his Whittier home and booked him into jail on suspicion of felony vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.
Olarte-Torres was initially held on $50,000 bail, but was released on Wednesday after posting bond, according to jail records.
If convicted, prosecutors say he could face up to 6 years in state prison.