Man Pleads No Contest in Girlfriend’s Drowning
A man who abandoned his drowning girlfriend in the rain-swollen Los Angeles River while fleeing police pleaded no contest Monday to involuntary manslaughter and receiving stolen property.
Anthony Paul McGonigle, 33, of Long Beach was sentenced to 16 months in state prison, prosecutors said.
McGonigle stole a car Feb. 5 and picked up Renee Cruz, 20, also of Long Beach, to go for a ride, authorities said. They were near the Los Angeles River when a volunteer patrol officer tried to stop the stolen vehicle. McGonigle and Cruz abandoned the car and plunged into the El Nino-engorged river, prosecutors said.
McGonigle managed to scramble up the river’s banks, but he ignored a patrol officer’s call to reach back to grab Cruz, who was being carried away by the current. Her body was later recovered downstream.
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