A 21-year-old Compton man was released last week after serving six months in jail for causing the crash that killed a 15-year-old boy named Carlos Ramirez as he waited for a bus in East Long Beach.
From the audience, Carlos’ mother, Monica Gonzalez, watched as a judge sentenced driver Jacob Bustillos to three years of probation in addition to the brief term he’d just completed behind bars. Then, outside the Long Beach courtroom, Gonzalez and Bustillos’ mother shared a tearful hug.
“I don’t know how you’re doing it,” Bustillos’ mother said after Gonzalez told Bustillos she forgave him for the crash.
Gonzalez responded, “As a mom, that’s what we have to do.”
Prosecutors say Bustillos was driving 57 mph in a 40-mph zone on June 11, 2025, when he ran a red light at Carson Street and Palo Verde Avenue and collided with another car.
The impact sent Bustillos’ car spinning into a nearby bus stop, where Carlos was waiting after walking a friend home.
Signs quickly piled up at his roadside memorial blaming Bustillos for the chain of events and telling other drivers to slow down.
After the crash, Bustillos was charged with one count of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. He faced up to six years in prison if convicted, but he instead accepted a plea deal to serve six months in jail, be on probation for three years, complete a reckless driving intervention program and complete a two-day program that included a visit to a hospital and a morgue.
Speeding has been a major contributing factor in Long Beach’s recent rash of fatal crashes. Both families in this case hope other drivers can learn from Bustillos’ mistake.
“I want you to think about this every time you get behind the wheel,” Carlos’ uncle, Jaime Villanueva, told Jacob Bustillos during a statement to the court before the sentence was officially handed down.
Villanueva told the courtroom he used to “gun it” whenever he saw a light turn yellow, but after the crash that took his nephew’s life, he’s changed his driving habits.
He’s not alone in that.
Gonzalez is still reeling from the loss of her oldest son, as are his two siblings, ages 9 and 8. More than a year later, she still avoids any route that takes her by the intersection where Carlos died.
But she’s chosen to forgive Bustillos, Gonzalez said, because she kept thinking of him as “a kid” and could tell that he was devastated by his actions.
Instead of anger, she’s leaned heavily on her faith to choose forgiveness.
“It’s a hard pill to swallow, but I have to do it,” Gonzalez said. Carlos would have done the same, she said.
She remembered him as a driven Lakewood High School student who wasn’t afraid to be himself. He loved anime and singing Frank Sinatra, but also had plans to join the military after graduating high school.
Carlos had a “heart of gold” and never missed the chance to console a friend or go out of his way to help, his mom said.
Hearing more about Carlos’ selflessness has rubbed off on Bustillos, according to his mom, Vanessa.
Before the crash, he was studying to become a teacher, she said. But while in prison, he asked his mom to send him the military aptitude test, only to later realize he was ineligible because of the felony conviction.
Jacob Sisneros writes for The LA Local.
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