Driver Gets 45 Years to Life in Fatal Car Chase

An Anaheim man who led police on a high-speed auto chase that left three people dead in the crash of two pursuit helicopters was given the maximum prison term Friday.

“You’ve been an accident (waiting) to happen since you were 14 years old,” Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald told Vincent William Acosta, 22.

Fitzgerald sentenced Acosta to 45 years to life in prison. Prosecutors had asked only for a 30-year sentence.

Acosta was convicted in May of three counts of second-degree murder for the March, 1987, deaths of two police officers and a civilian who were in a Costa Mesa Police Department helicopter. The helicopter crashed into the back of a Newport Beach Police Department helicopter during a 45-minute, nighttime pursuit of Acosta and the stolen car he was driving.

Smiled During Chase

Acosta, at times driving without lights and sometimes on the wrong side of the road, was seen smiling at times as he eluded police at speeds of up to 90 m.p.h. He drove through half a dozen Orange County cities before he stopped.

Fitzgerald could have given him a 15-year sentence, allowing the three murder convictions to run concurrently. But Fitzgerald said he wanted the maximum term, partly as a deterrent to others whose actions could lead to the death of a police officer.

Acosta had a long record of crimes as a juvenile. They included petty thefts, residential burglaries, receiving stolen property and auto theft. He was on probation on a drug-related matter at the time of the chase.

Deputy Public Defender William G. Kelley argued Friday that it would be an injustice to run Acosta’s three murder conviction sentences consecutively. “Mr. Acosta had no control over how many people would be in those helicopters,” Kelley said.