Rental truck driver sentenced to prison in hit-and-run collision

VISTA (CNS) – The driver of a rental truck who caused a hit-and-run collision that killed a motorcyclist in Oceanside was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison.

Ezequiel Cazares Garcia, 30, pleaded guilty last month to felony hit-and-run causing death and misdemeanor charges of vehicular manslaughter and driving without a license.

Garcia, driving a Budget Rental box truck, pulled a U-turn in front of the 22-year-old Brandon Bizzaro’s motorcycle about 8 a.m. on Aug. 28 and the victim crashed into the box truck, police said.

Garcia fled, and Bizzaro succumbed to his injuries about 4:30 p.m. that day, police said.

Garcia returned the truck to the place where he rented it, and based on statements he made there, a clerk called police to report that one of their trucks had been in a collision.

The defendant returned to the scene and identified himself as the driver of the truck. He was arrested after making a number of incriminating statements, said OPD Lt. Leonard Cosby.