When the Santiagos and the Baezs set out for one of their frequent nights out together, they were planning on a fun evening of casino-hopping. As they were returning just before midnight on Route 76 east of Pala in San Diego County, California, an SUV coming in their direction crossed the centerline and hit their Toyota Camry head on. All four passengers in the Camry were killed.

The driver of the SUV, Anthony Boles, was dragged out of the flaming SUV by a Good Samaritan who happened to be driving by. As he was dragged out of the SUV, Boles reportedly screamed out that he wasn’t the driver. If the Samaritan thought those were the painful cries of an injured man, he would have been wrong – they were the intoxicated ramblings of a man who police now say was not just drunk at the time of the accident, but flying high as a kite on methamphetamine.

As more revelations about the terrible accident, which shattered two families right before Christmas come out, we learn that Boles has had a colorful history marked by large chunks of time spent behind bars. He has at least one conviction for drunken driving and was, to top it all off nicely, driving without a license at the time of the crash. His license, Sign on San Diego reports, was suspended for the second time just four days before the crash for lack of insurance.

In 2003, he had been found guilty of several misdemeanor charges, and a year later had been convicted for assault with a deadly weapon. He was at that time sentenced to two years in prison, out of which he reportedly served a few months. In August 2006, he was pulled over for speeding and given probation. Soon after that he was arrested once again for drunken driving and was sentenced to 10 days in jail. This was obviously not a man who believed in doing things halfway. If he was going to break laws, he was going to break a whole bunch of them, and in extravagant fashion.

On Friday, years of ham-handed punishment and a failure to effectively and severely deal with this former jailbird proved costly, and not just for Boles. Four people are dead, all of them with young children, their lives effectively changed forever. All because one man lived his life like a game of Russian Roulette. Only this time, four other innocent persons had to pay with a bullet to the head.

For the sake of others on the road, one hopes Boles is dealt with severely and faces the consequences of his actions this time round. The Santiago and Baez kids deserve nothing less.

If you have been injured, or a loved one has been killed by a drunk driver, contact the California personal injury lawyers at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.