A 25-year-old Maywood man has been sentenced to four years and eight months in prison after pleading no contest to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, more than a year after his car tore through the wall of a Downey home and into the bedroom of a sleeping 73-year-old grandmother. Ryan Mota entered his plea this week, closing out a case that began in the early morning hours of August 16, 2025, on the 9500 block of Gallatin Road, just west of the Santa Ana (5) Freeway.
Car Slammed Into Bedrooms at 2:30 a.m.
According to MyNewsLA.com, the crash happened at about 2:30 a.m. and killed Agia Guirguis, described as a 73-year-old grandmother, while also injuring her 24-year-old granddaughter. Mota's vehicle crashed through the home's exterior wall and directly into the bedrooms where the victims were sleeping, according to CBS Los Angeles, which reported the car ended up partially covered by a mattress inside the house. A neighbor told the station he heard the vehicle speeding down Gallatin Road beforehand and estimated it was traveling between 50 and 60 miles per hour before it plowed into the residence.
Guirguis was killed in the crash, the Downey Patriot reported. Mota was arrested within less than an hour of the crash, per the same account, and was released four days later without an immediately filed case. After a later custody event, he was released on his own recognizance under conditions that included wearing an alcohol-monitoring device and attending two Alcoholics Anonymous meetings per week.
Charges Filed, Then a Second Arrest
Jail records indicate the case was not immediately filed after Mota's initial release, and he was taken back into custody just under a month later, on Thursday, September 10, according to jail records cited in the same report. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office reported Mota's sentence and pleas, which included no-contest pleas to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and to driving under the influence of alcohol with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08% or more.
The County of Los Angeles reported in September 2025 that the initial felony filings against Mota, case number 25DWCF01185, included enhancements for a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15% or higher and for refusing a chemical test, which together carried a potential maximum exposure of up to 13 years and eight months in state prison. His eventual sentence of four years and eight months lands near the lower end of the statutory range under California Penal Code Section 191.5(a), which sets baseline terms of 4, 6, or 10 years for gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, according to FindLaw.
Timing Fits a Grim Pattern on LA County Roads
The 2:30 a.m. timing of the crash lines up with broader patterns in local crash data. A July 2026 traffic report by Jacoby & Meyers, analyzing California Highway Patrol SWITRS data, found that 2 a.m. is the single most dangerous hour on Los Angeles County roadways, with alcohol involved in 39.4% of crashes occurring during that hour. Statewide, 1,355 people were killed in alcohol-involved crashes in 2023.
Mota's age also places him within a demographic federal data flags as especially high-risk. Figures from 2023 show drivers aged 21 to 24 accounted for 28% of drivers involved in fatal alcohol-impaired crashes nationwide.
DA's Office Pushing Tougher DUI Laws Statewide
DA's Office and DUI Laws Statewide The sentencing comes amid broader attention to DUI penalties statewide.
The Gallatin Road crash is not the only vehicle-into-structure DUI incident to hit the area. Hoodline's earlier coverage detailed the initial charges filed against Mota last September, and in January 2024, Hoodline reported that another suspected DUI driver crashed an SUV through a perimeter fence onto the playground grounds of Gallatin Elementary School on nearby Brookshire Avenue, underscoring recurring vehicular safety concerns along the corridor.
