Driver accused of driving while intoxicated pleads not guilty to charges

VISTA (KUSI) – 4:23 p.m. – Reginald Grisby pleaded not guilty Wednesday to to gross vehicular manslaughter and DUI charges.

2:50 a.m. – An arraignment was held Wednesday for the college football star accused of driving while intoxicated and causing a crash that killed a 21-year-old Caltrans subcontractor working alongside a North County freeway onramp.

According to California Highway Patrol, Reginald Grigsby Jr., 31, allegedly was under the influence of some type of drug when he lost control of his Mitsubishi Montero on the connector from South Centre City Parkway to southbound Interstate 15 in Escondido shortly after 2 p.m. Monday.

The vehicle veered off the roadway, rolled down a slope and struck Murrieta resident Leonardo Sandoval, who was repairing a sprinkler system in a median next to the freeway entrance.

Sandoval, the father of a year-old boy and an employee of Perris-based Pacific Restoration Group, died at the scene.

Caltrans District 11 Director Laurie Berman called the fatal crash "a stark reminder of the dangers of working along our highways.”

Grigsby, a standout athlete at El Camino High School who went on to be a top tackler for the San Diego State University Aztecs football team from 2003 to 2006, suffered minor injuries in the accident.

After being treated at Palomar Medical Center, the Oceanside resident was arrested and booked into county jail in Vista on suspicion of felony DUI and vehicular manslaughter. He was being held in lieu of $125,000 bail pending arraignment.

In 2009, Grigsby pleaded guilty to an assault charge for beating and choking his mother during an argument in her Fallbrook home.

His father, a captain with the Oceanside Police Department, halted the assault by retrieving a pistol and shooting his then-25-year-old son, according  to prosecutors.

9/14/2015 – A 21-year-old employee of a company contracted by Caltrans was killed Monday after an out-of-control SUV that struck him as he worked alongside the I-15.

According to the California Highway Patrol, the victim was working on a sprinkler system in a median next to the entrance near 15 from South Centre City Parkway in Escondido when the Mitsubishi Montero hit him shortly after 2 p.m.

The vehicle overturned before coming to rest on its roof next to a northbound offramp from I-15. Caltrans closed that connector to through traffic to allow for investigation and cleanup.

CHP public-affairs Officer Jim Bettencourt said it was unclear what caused the SUV to careen off the roadway, though investigators suspected the driver might have been under the influence of some type of drug. 

It remained unclear in the late afternoon whether the Oceanside resident might face criminal charges over the wreck.

The name of the victim, who died at the scene, was withheld pending notification of the Murrieta resident’s family.

Medics took the motorist, 31-year-old Reginald Grigsby to Palomar Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries.

At the hospital he was arrested on suspicion of Felony DUI (Drugs) and Felony Vehicular Manslaughter.  He was transported from Palomar Hospital and booked into Vista Detention Facility.