Frank Rugnetta, 43 of Irvine, was driving a Ford Escape SUV as an Uber driver around 1:35 a.m. when he picked up the passengers from The Huddle. They sat in the back seat before leaving the bar’s parking lot.
Rugnetta was driving across Baker Street when Porfirio Sandoval, 19 of Costa Mesa, driving a BMW 540i eastbound on the street, struck the driver side of the Escape, injuring the Uber passengers and Rugnetta.
Sandoval was arrested on suspicion of felony DUI. He was initially held in lieu of $100,000 bail.
The Uber passengers, Gardner, who is from Irvine, and an unidentified Huntington Beach man, were taken to Orange County Global Medical Center in Santa Ana for chest injuries where Gardner died at 3:36 a.m., according to the coroner’s office.
Officials said Gardner was sitting behind Rugnetta at the time of the collision.
Rugnetta, who passed a field sobierty test, was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange after he complained of chest pain.
Authorities said Sandoval, who also claimed he had chest pain, was taken to Hoag Hospital.
The deadly collision comes six days after a new California law went into effect requiring Uber, and other similar ride share programs, to maintain primary third-party liability insurance that provides coverage of $50,000 per individual, up to $100,000, per crash.
Additionally, there is coverage of up to $30,000 for property damage during rides where the driver is actively looking to pick up passengers, before a ride begins, according to an Uber press release. The new law did not change the insurance policy during rides, though.
Uber still maintains commercial auto insurance that provides for a driver’s liability for third-party bodily injury and property damage and $1 million of uninsured/under-insured motorist bodily injury coverage per incident.
It also has contingent comprehensive and collision insurance that provides protection against physical damage to the driver’s vehicle that occurs on a trip, up to the vehicle’s actual cash value, subject to a $1,000 deductible, according to the company.
Any witnesses to the collision have been asked to contact Costa Mesa police Officer Crystal Cordero at 714-754-5264