OCEANSIDE — A man who drove while intoxicated and plowed a pickup truck into a family’s crowded car at an Oceanside intersection, killing three of six family members in the victims’ vehicle, was sentenced on June 20 to 15 years in state prison.
Mason Robert Fish, 25, pleaded guilty to charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in connection with the Feb. 5, 2019, crash that killed 74-year-old Rufina Arango Rodriguez and her daughters, 40-year-old Petra Arango and 56-year-old Eloina Arango.
The three other family members injured in the crash included Petra Arango’s then-13-year-old daughter.
Mason Fish, who was 19 at the time, pleaded guilty to all counts and allegations filed against him just as his trial was set to get underway earlier this year.
According to Deputy District Attorney David Uyar, cocaine, Xanax and Delta-9-THC were among the substances found in Fish’s system following the crash.
Fish was driving along South Coast Highway just before 1 p.m. when he ran a red light at Oceanside Boulevard and crashed into the driver’s side of the victims’ 2003 Mazda sedan, according to police.
The broadside impact ejected Petra Arango and her daughter, who were two of the Mazda’s four backseat passengers. Petra Arango died at a hospital, while Rufina Arango Rodriguez and Eloina Arango died at the scene.
Kelly Velasco Arango, the then-13-year-old who survived the crash, was one of several Arango family members who addressed the court at Fish’s sentencing hearing. The crash claimed the lives of her mother, grandmother, and aunt.
“There’s not one day that I don’t fear going into a car because maybe once again I can be a victim of somebody’s careless mistake,” she said. “Every single person in my family has been broken because of this car accident.”
Fish’s attorney, Alvaro Gonzalez, said his client “made a terrible mistake” which was spurred in part by the death of his grandmother.
Gonzalez said Fish learned of her death that day and went for a drive “to clear his head.”
Gonzalez sought a sentence that wouldn’t exceed 12 years, while Uyar asked for the maximum possible sentence of more than 22 years.
Fish apologized to the Arango family and his own during the hearing, which was attended by more than a dozen members of both families.
“I struggle to find the words to express the depth of my sorrow and regret for the unimaginable pain and loss I have caused your family,” Fish told the Arango family.
He said that upon learning of his grandmother’s death, he was “full of despair of confusion,” and then “made a series of decisions that I deeply regret.”
Fish said, “I’m haunted every day and night knowing that I can never undo the harm that I have caused.”
To his own family, Fish said, “My heart is heavy with regret and sorrow for the pain I have caused you.”
Fish thanked family members for being there for him throughout the legal process.
“Your love and support have meant the world to me, even when I didn’t think I deserved it,” he said.
