The driver of an SUV who crashed in Chula Vista after fleeing U.S. Border Patrol agents will be sentenced Jan. 6 after pleading guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter in the death of her uncle.
Kyleigh Marsay Polite, 30, admitted to causing the death of her uncle, Larry Dean Passmore, 54, on April 25. Passmore was in the front passenger seat in the silver 2003 Acura after she allegedly picked up three undocumented persons around 7 a.m. on Alto Road in Otay Mesa.
Deputy District Attorney Jerry Hendricks said Polite faces a maximum sentence of six years in prison. She pleaded guilty before Chula Vista Superior Court Judge Francis Devaney.
U.S. Border Patrol agents attempted to pull her over, but the driver sped off at 85-100 mph on State Route 125. About four minutes after the pursuit began, Polite lost control of the SUV, and it overturned, killing Passmore, who was ejected from the vehicle.
A murder charge was dismissed against Polite after she pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter. She pleaded guilty without having a preliminary hearing. The medical examiner’s office said Passmore died from blunt force trauma.
The three people she picked up were also ejected from the vehicle as they were not wearing seat belts, said Deputy District Attorney Jerry Wendricks. They were hospitalized as was Polite.
The vehicle skidded out of control, overturned, and rolled side over side several times near the Olympic Parkway exit in Chula Vista.
Polite remains in the Las Colinas Women’s Detention Facility.
