A jury will decide if a Steele Canyon grad drove recklessly or was reacting to being cut off.
Andrew Bellati, now 19, was behind the wheel of a red Mustang on Jan. 23 when, according to the California Highway Patrol, the car crossed the double yellow line at 80 mph and hit David Reid's car head on.
Bellati was bound over Thursday for trial, at which the questions of whether the crash was caused by a slippery road, was an attempt to avoid trouble or was caused by an out-of-control teen driver will be answered.
David Reid, 50, was in the car with his son Garrett during the crash. On Thursday, Reid testified about his father's final moments and seeing a car approaching head-on.
"And as I was looking to my left, I saw that he was losing control, and that was Andrew, and I looked back in the direction I was going, which was forward, blacked out, and woke up in the hospital," Garrett testified at Thursday's preliminary hearing.
The crash took place near Rancho San Diego's Steele Canyon High, which Bellati attended. The school's former star pitcher was drafted to play professional baseball.
Bellati was arrested after the crash and pleaded not guilty. His attorneys are making the case that another driver pulled out of the high school in front of Bellati on the day of the crash, forcing Bellati to swerve into the coming lanes and lose control.
On Thursday, the driver of that other car testified about what he saw after the red Mustang passed him.
"A few seconds later, the back tires of the Mustang just started to, like, lose control, then, second by second, it just got worse and worse," Mario Goro testified. "Once it lost control, it just spun out and hit the oncoming car the other way."
Also on the stand on Thursday and in Bellati's car the day of the crash was Bellati's girlfriend, who backed up his account. She testified another car pulled out in front of the Mustang, forcing Bellati to swerve into oncoming lanes.
The driver and passenger in that other car, though, testified they were not speeding and never saw Bellati coming.
Bellati faces up to seven years in prison.
