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Man Deported 5 Times Since 1998 Charged in DUI Crash That Killed North Hills Woman

Sandra Duran was killed in a February crash with a drunken driver

The man arrested in a crash that killed a North Hills woman last month isn't just charged with five felony counts for the hit-and-run drunken driving case --  he's also wanted by immigration authorities for his sixth deportation from the United States.

The circumstances surrounding Sandra Duran's death leave her family with many questions. Christian Galvan was in the same car as his mom on the Sunday morning in February when their silver Toyota was struck by the other car. He said police pulled him away from the vehicle where his mother died.

The other driver, officials said, was intoxicated.

"It was right after church," Galvan said. "I see my mom lifeless. She leans to the side and I try to help her but she wasn't breathing or anything."

Estuardo Alvarado, 45, identified by authorities as an undocumented immigrant, had been on immigration agents' radar for years since his first deportation in 1998. His most recent deportation was in 2011, an ICE spokeswoman told the Los Angeles Times.

He is now in county custody, but ICE is hoping to take him into their own custody if he is ever released. 

This information comes as too little, too late for Duran's family, who said they are angry that this death could have been prevented for various reasons -- had Alvarado not been drinking, had he not returned after deportation, and, they said, had federal authorities been doing their job to go after the worst offenders.

"He should have been in jail for everything he's done before all of this," Galvan said. "If they were to focus more on the bad people rather than the innocent people, then we could've prevented all of this."

"She was a great mom, a great sister, a great daughter," Rodrigo Macias, Duran's fiance, said. "She was my perfect match in life."

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