Concord teen gets 12 years, 8 months for killing 86-year-old man in hit-and-run DUI crash

CONCORD — Just four months after he was charged with vehicular manslaughter in the death of an 86-year-old man, a local teen agreed to plead no contest and receive a sentence of 12 years and eight months in state prison, court records show.

Damian Lopez-Avelino, 19, of Concord, pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter, drunk driving, and fleeing the scene of an accident, all felonies, in connection with the crash that killed 86-year-old Thomas O’Connell and injured O’Connell’s wife.