Left inset: Shane Shahan (Fresno Police Department). Right inset: Jesse Espino (Chapel of Light). Background: The car that Jesse Espino was riding in when Shane Shahan ran a red light and slammed into it, killing Espino (KFSN).
A man from California has been sentenced to prison for causing a deadly car accident by speeding through a red light at almost 80 mph, then fleeing the scene. During his trial, video evidence showed him glancing back at the crash and a passenger who was dying before he ran away.
According to a Fresno police officer’s testimony at Shane Shahan’s trial in January, “They looked back … and proceeded to run,” as reported by KFSN, the local ABC affiliate.
When law enforcement eventually apprehended Shahan, who received a sentence of 19 years to life on Tuesday, he reportedly told them, “Sorry. Sorry. Sorry, I got scared. I didn’t know what to do,” the officer testified regarding the 2023 incident.
The officer noted, “I could smell the odor of alcohol on him,” according to KFSN. “He was sweating profusely. Talking erratically.”
Police stated that Shahan was driving at approximately 80 mph when he ran a red light at the intersection of First Street and McKinley Avenue. His Chevrolet Colorado collided with a Hyundai Elantra, which contained two passengers. Among them was 35-year-old Jesse Espino, who sustained critical injuries and later died in the hospital.
In a press release from June 2023, police reported, “[Shahan] fled the scene immediately following the accident.” Officers were able to track him down in a nearby neighborhood shortly afterward.
Shahan flipped his truck but managed to escape unscathed. He was driving drunk and had marijuana in his system, with prosecutors saying he had two previous alcohol-related driving convictions on his record at the time, from 2016 and 2017.
Shahan was still on probation for the 2017 DUI when he caused the crash.
“There was no phone call to 911, even though he had a cellphone,” a Fresno County judge said at Shahan’s sentencing, according to KFSN. “This is not just one bad decision. It was multiple bad decisions and selfish decisions.”
Espino’s sister, Crystal Espino, told the court, “We are not the same people we were before that day. My parents have suffered the ultimate tragedy and I have lost my only sibling, the person I was supposed to grow old with.”
Espino’s father, Edward Espino, said, “Seeing Jesse laying motionless on the hospital table, it’s an image I live with every day. I kissed his forehead and said my last goodbye, knowing nothing will ever bring him back.”
Shahan was given the maximum sentence allowed after being convicted of second-degree murder, hit-and-run resulting in death and driving with a suspended license. It took jurors less than an hour to convict him.
