Atascadero man pleads guilty to deadly hit-and-run

May 23, 2025

By KAREN VELIE

A 31-year-old Atascadero man accused of driving under the influence of drugs during a hit-and-run crash that killed an 11-year-old boy pleaded guilty on Wednesday.

Zachary Bernal pleaded to charges of vehicular manslaughter, narcotics possession, and hit-and-run resulting in death. He now faces up to eight years and eight months in prison.

“My client pleaded guilty at a very early stage of the court proceedings in recognition of his guilt and to avoid the victim’s family from undergoing the trauma of protracted litigation,” said Bernal’s attorney Ilan Funke-Bilu.

Bernal is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on July 25.

After school on March 14, José Gutiérrez was walking home on the 1080 block of El Camino Real when a truck drove onto the sidewalk and hit him, police said. Before he was struck and killed, Gutiérrez warned two of his friends to get out of the way.

Bernal then fled the scene.

On the evening of March 14, Atascadero police officers arrested Bernal.