Santa Ana man pleads no contest in Diamond Bar DUI crash that killed 2 people

POMONA — A Santa Ana man who was charged with murder in connection with a crash that killed two people on the southbound Orange (57) Freeway in Diamond Bar pleaded no contest Monday to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

Vincent de la Vega, 31, is due back in court on Tuesday, when victims’ impact statements are scheduled to be delivered.

Eduardo Goncalves-Lins, 28, of Costa Mesa, and his passenger, Paula Queiroz-Lopes, 24, of Diamond Bar, were killed in the crash  that occurred shortly before 3 a.m. on Oct. 28, 2017.

Goncalves-Lins was driving a 2014 Toyota Corolla south on the 57 when he veered to the right and crashed into the back of a tow truck parked on the right shoulder just south of Diamond Bar Boulevard, according to the California Highway Patrol. About a minute later, de la Vega’s Toyota Tacoma struck the Corolla, and both the driver and passenger were thrown onto the freeway, a CHP spokesman said.

De la Vega, who suffered fractured ribs and bruises to his chest, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of DUI,