A Richmond man has been jailed for two years after blaming his dead cousin for causing a fatal drunkdriving accident.
Juan Pablo Alvarez lost his cousin and best friend Juan Carlos Quijano-Flores after the Honda Civic they were in crashed and flipped over on the Knight Street Bridge after a boozy night out downtown almost four years ago.
Alvarez' thereafter decided to slide the blame for the crash on his deceased relative after the pair had crawled from the mangled wreckage.
His subsequent lies tore apart two formerly inseparable Richmond families - who shared holidays and countless special occasions.
On Tuesday, Alvarez was jailed for two years and given a five-year driving ban.
In court two weeks ago, after finally pleading guilty last October, Alvarez for the first time said
sorry for getting behind the wheel while more than twice the legal drink-drive limit and apologized to a pair of teary-eyed families for allowing his 27-year-old cousin to take the rap.
His words, however, rang hollow and were almost four years too late for Flores' father, Carlos Quijano.
Speaking outside of court two weeks ago, Quijano talked about the years of anguish he and his family endured,
dealing with the public perception that their son - a loving father and husband, a football-playing mentor to his nephews and a light in the life of everyone he touched - had died a drunk-driver.
"I don't hate him and I don't care if he does time or not, I don't care if he does ten days or ten years," said Quijano outside of court, fighting back the tears.
"He's never came and spoke to me in those three years, never to say sorry.
"For our family, justice has been done because my son's name has been cleared. He was an awesome guy and the star in my life."
