Participant in fatal drag race is put on house arrest

BY AMELIA BISCARDI
Daily Post Staff Writer

A young man who was participating in a Redwood City street race that killed a mother and father while their 7-year-old twins were in the backseat was released to his parents for house arrest yesterday, a prosecutor said.

Cesar Morales, 20, who was 17 at the time of the crash, was found guilty by Judge Susan Etezadi of vehicular manslaughter on Nov. 20 District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.

Morales, who has been in juvenile hall since the Nov. 4, 2022, crash that killed Grace Spiridon and Greg Ammen of San Carlos, got credit for the year he has been incarcerated, and was released yesterday, his birthday, Wagstaffe said.

Wagstaffe said Spiridon and Ammen’s family is distraught by the judge’s ruling.

The family read a victim impact statement and played a slideshow of Spiridon and Ammen, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Shin-Mee Chang.

Morales’ co-defendant in the case, Kyle Harrison, 25, of Redwood City, took a plea deal for lesser charges involving the speed contest as he did not hit the family and is facing up to nine years and four months in prison, Wagstaffe said. Harrison is set to be sentenced on Feb. 25.

Morales and Harrison were at a stoplight and agreed to race. The two drove at speeds of 80-90 mph on El Camino Real and Morales T-boned the Ammen and Spiridon’s car which was turning onto El Camino, according to the DA’s office. The car flew into the air and landed off of the road, killing both parents. The twins survived.

Harrison and Morales are also being sued in civil court by Ammen’s brother, Mike Ammen. Morales’ parents are also named in the lawsuit, saying they were aware of their son’s “proclivity for reckless driving.”

Since the parents allegedly allowed him to drive on the night of the crash despite this knowledge, he is suing them for negligent entrustment. That case is still ongoing, and the next court date is Feb. 6.

Spiridon and Ammen both grew up in Palo Alto. The two knew each other for years, going to the same schools. The two ultimately got together in their 20s, friends of the couple previously told the Post. Spiridon worked for Google and Ammen worked for Dolby.