CHARLOTTE — Dimas Ramirez, 24, pleaded guilty Monday in Mecklenburg County to felony death by vehicle and other charges related to the 2024 vehicular death of his uncle, Abigail Romero, 39. Superior Court Judge Donald R. Cureton Jr. sentenced Ramirez to 64 to 89 months in prison, the district attorney announced.
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The charges to which Ramirez pleaded guilty included involuntary manslaughter, no operator’s license, operating a vehicle with no insurance and reckless driving to endanger. Ramirez entered his plea when he was called for trial by the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Homicide Team.
The crash happened at around 1:45 a.m. on Feb. 10, 2024. Ramirez was driving a Chevy Uplander minivan on Central Avenue in Charlotte. His uncle, Romero and another relative were passengers in the vehicle.
As Ramirez approached the intersection at North Sharon Amity Road, he failed to slow down and ran a red light. A Honda Accord traveling on North Sharon Amity Road then struck the rear passenger’s side of Ramirez’s minivan, causing it to spin around and flip onto its passenger side.
Romero was killed instantly in the crash, while the other relative in Ramirez’s vehicle sustained minor injuries, the DA said in a news release.
The four occupants of the Honda Accord either suffered no injuries or minor injuries.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers spoke to Ramirez at the hospital following the crash.
They noted he was slurring his speech, had an odor of alcohol and his eyes were red and glassy. Initially, Ramirez and the other relative in his vehicle told investigators that Romero had been driving the minivan.
DNA testing was conducted on both airbags in the minivan and on two blood spots found on the passenger’s side airbag.
This testing confirmed that Ramirez was the driver. A review of his medical records, including an analysis of his blood, determined that his blood alcohol concentration was 0.17. Additionally, Ramirez did not possess a valid driver’s license and did not have insurance for the minivan.