Man sentenced to 12 years for DUI crash that killed couple

A man who drove drunk and crashed into a car in West Boca early last year, killing a man and a woman and seriously injuring their passenger, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Jaime Gomez Escobedo, 36, of Boca Raton, ran a red light in his 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee at the intersection of US 441 and Kimberly Road around 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 1, striking the passenger side of a 2021 Nissan Rogue SUV. was driving west on Kimberly Road through a green light, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

The impact forced the Nissan to roll over “forcibly,” eventually coming to rest upside down in the southwest corner of the intersection, the affidavit said.

Arie Oberlender, the 82-year-old driver of the Nissan, and passenger Golda Oberlender, 79, both of New York, were pronounced dead at the scene. A spokesman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said the Oberlenders were married.

Their passenger, Frida Bross, of Boca Raton, survived and was hospitalized with multiple serious injuries. Gomez Escobedo’s car spun before stopping in the southbound lanes of the intersection, and he was taken to Boca Raton Regional Hospital for evaluation, the affidavit said.

Once admitted to the hospital, Gomez Escobedo’s blood alcohol content was .360, according to the warrant. Two later tests showed values ​​of .349 and .298. The legal limit in Florida is 0.08%. Shortly before noon, an investigator on scene smelled alcohol coming from Gomez Escobedo’s Jeep while assessing the crash scene.

Boca Raton man charged with manslaughter by drunken driving in rollover crash that killed two people and injured one

A witness who was riding his bicycle on the sidewalk near the intersection at the time of the crash told police he saw the Jeep driver get out of the car and “casually” drop a Corona beer can on the shoulder of US 441 , the affidavit said. Another witness said he saw Gomez Escobedo walking away from his car after the crash, appearing to be “stumbling around” and that he smelled alcohol on him as he got near Gomez Escobedo.

Gomez Escobedo pleaded guilty on April 16 to two counts of manslaughter while intoxicated and one count of driving under the influence causing serious bodily injury.

He was sentenced to 12 years in prison, with a minimum mandatory sentence of four years for the intoxication manslaughter charge and a concurrent sentence of five years for the third charge, according to court records. His driver’s license will be revoked for life.