Driver In Fatal

Crash Sentenced
To Prison
On Tuesday, a Selm
man pled guilty to
second degree
murder, felony h
and run, and driving
while impaired
following a fatal
accident last Aug
18 that claim
life of one of his
neighbors.

Jose Rumildo Canales, 54, of Shadow Bend Lane,
Selma struck and killed Carlos Velasquez, 35, with his
1995 Acura passenger car while Velasquez was walking
beside River Road near his home la

Canales failed to stop at the scene but was arrested at
his home a short time later by Selma Police. He had a
blood alcohol content of 0.19. His damaged car was
found in his driveway.

Because Canales had a prior DWI conviction in 2008, prosecutors
upgraded the vehicular homicide charge to second-degree murder.

Judge Gail Adams sentenced Canales to serve between 100 and 132
months in the NC Department of Corrections. After he completes his
sentence, he will be deported to his home country of Honduras.

District Attorney Susan Doyle said, Drunk drivers are a threat to our
community as a whole. Anyone could be a potential victim of this type
of crime. I am pleased with the defendants sentence and will continue
to aggressively prosecute those defendants who violate our drunk
driving laws.

Although the suspect and the victim lived about a block apart,
authorities could never determine if they knew one another.

The Selma Police Department and NC Highway Patrol assisted with the
investigation.
a
it
ust
ed the
st year.