A suspected DUI driver accused of crashing his truck into a van and sending it into crowd of pedestrians in Alhambra, east of Los Angeles, Sunday night has a revoked license and several prior convictions including DUI and hit-and-run, according to court records.
Police said Ismael Soto, 28, hurt 13 people when he plowed into a minivan where families had gathered to look at Christmas decorations at Fremont Avenue and Poplar Boulevard Sunday night.
Eleven people went to the hospital, including a 27-year-old woman who remained in the intensive care unit for a head injury Monday morning, police said.
The youngest victim is 7 years old, police said.
Court records show Soto was convicted in February 2013 of driving with a suspended license and driving with a blood alcohol content of .08 or higher, and November 2013 for driving under the influence and hit-and-run, according to LA Superior Court records.
Soto was also convicted in 2013 of driving with a suspended license. A judge then revoked his license in November 2013 after he allegedly refused a chemical test, records showed.
"He does not have a current driver's license," Alhambra Police Sgt. Jerry Johnson said. "He shouldn't have been behind the wheel of that car."
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Soto was on probation for one of the prior DUI conviction's at the time of Sunday's crash, Johnson said.
After the Sunday night crash, witnesses said a red pickup truck driving on Fremont Avenue suddenly made a left turn and T-boned a black minivan, sending the minivan spinning into a crowd of spectators.
"All of a sudden I heard tires screeching, but not brakes," said David Villalobos, a homeowner who saw the crash. "Luckily no one got killed."
The truck pushed one van over a "huge curb," and sent another van into pedestrians, pinning them against a fence and a holiday display, police said.
Soto is behind bars on $130,000 bail for suspicion of felony DUI and is due in court Wednesday, police said.