A Marine wife got her first look at the man accused of killing her husband in a hit and run accident.
On Tuesday, Ezequiel Garcia, 30, pleaded not guilty to a felony hit and run that killed Marine Sgt. Brandon Bizzarro. The Oceanside man is accused of making an illegal U-turn with a rental truck and fleeing the scene after colliding with Bizzarro.
The prosecutor said that Garcia was rushing to the rental agency so he could get back his deposit. She said he was also driving on an expired license and asked the judge to raise bail.
Garcia’s public defender argued against it. She said Garcia was not a flight risk because he has two small children and no prior record.
In the end, the judge agreed with the prosecution and increased the suspect’s bail to $150,000.
Marines from Bizzarro’s command and members of his motorcycle club packed the courtroom to support his grieving wife.
“He meant so much to so many people, and you just ran away,” said Tamara Graham, Bizzarro’s wife. “How are you going to do that to my husband? The guy doesn't know him. He doesn’t know all the great things Brandon's done.”
Graham says she knows her husband would have forgiven Garcia. However, she says she can’t forgive him because he left her husband in the street to die.
“The human thing, and what I think anyone else would've done, was own up to it, get out of your truck and help him,” she said.
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Garcia faces a maximum of four years in prison. He is scheduled back in court Sept. 10.
