Two men sentenced to prison for roles in fatal crash

Two men pleaded guilty this month to felony charges for their part in a wreck that killed an Altenburg, Missouri, man in September.

Marcelino Carmona- Cruz, 25, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for first-degree involuntary manslaughter, and Samuel C. Salinas, 18, was sentenced to four years.

Carl Black, 59, of Altenburg was killed Sept. 12, 2016, when Carmona-Cruz’s vehicle failed to stay in one lane on Interstate 55 near mile marker 100.8, according to a probable-cause statement filed in the case by Cape Girardeau police Cpl. Jason Jurgens.

The 1991 Geo Tracker that Black drove spun off the road and flipped, throwing him from the vehicle, according to the statement.

After the accident, Carmona-Cruz and Salinas threw beer cans out of their car and fled on foot, according to the statement.

Investigators with the Missouri State Highway Patrol determined Carmona-Cruz had been driving 102 mph before the crash, according to a news release issued by the Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

Carmona-Cruz was found to have a blood-alcohol content of 0.159 after the accident — nearly twice the legal limit — and both men were living in the United States illegally at the time of the crash, according to the release.

“A man lost his life because Marcelino Carmona-Cruz ignored the laws of Missouri and the United States,” Limbaugh said in the release. “He came here illegally, drove drunk and crashed his motor vehicle into a military veteran, killing him. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim’s family.”

tgraef@semissourian.com

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