VENTURA : Man Pleads Guilty in Fatal Car Crash

A Meiners Oaks man pleaded guilty Tuesday to vehicular manslaughter and felony drunk driving for smashing his vehicle into an approaching car on California 33 last February and killing a 6-year-old boy.

Edmund Castro, 34, who entered the plea in Ventura County Superior Court, faces up to 10 years and 8 months in prison.

Castro, a professional speedway racer nicknamed “Fast Eddie,” had a 0.16% blood-alcohol level when his car crossed into the oncoming lane and struck a vehicle carrying five people, including 6-year-old Sergio Ramirez of Oxnard, authorities said.

Sergio, who had been riding in the back seat, suffered major head injuries in the crash and died later at Ojai Community Hospital.

Also injured in the crash were Sergio’s two brothers--Daniel Albarran, 8, and Charles Albarran, 10--as well as the boys’ mother, Clara Servin, and her fiance, Roman Cerda.

The family was returning from the mountains, where Servin had taken her three sons to play in the snow, when their car was struck by Castro.

“It’s a very tragic case where somebody loses a child . . .,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Stacy A. Ratner.

Deputy Public Defender Brian J. Fitzpatrick, who represented Castro, said he would ask for probation for the defendant, whom Fitzpatrick described as a single father raising children ages 5, 6 and 7.

“Being a parent of kids that age, he recognized how awful a thing that was,” Fitzpatrick said of Sergio’s death.

He said Castro wanted to spare the family of the victim a trial by admitting his guilt early in the court proceedings. Sending Castro to prison would only compound the tragedy by leaving Castro’s children without a father, Fitzpatrick contended.