Orange County firefighter pleads guilty to deadly hit and run crash in Dana Point

An Orange County firefighter has pleaded guilty for his part in a deadly hit-and-run crash that happened in Dana Point back in 2022. 

According to prosecutors, Jeffrey Richard Grasinger, 37, of Rancho Santa Margarita, pleaded guilty on Friday to one misdemeanor count of hit and run with permanent injury or death after he was indicted in 2023 with a felony count of hit and run with permanent injury or death. 

Grasinger, who was sentenced to six months in jail, was also placed on one year of informal probation for the crash that left 24-year-old Said Darinel Sanchez dead on Oct. 21, 2022. 

Prosecutors say that he struck the victim at around 6:45 p.m. when he was crossing Pacific Coast Highway in a marked crosswalk. The collision caused Sanchez to go airborne and fall head first into the pavement. 

Instead of stopping to help, prosecutors said Grasinger continued driving. 

Orange County Sheriff's Department investigators tracked his car to a home in Rancho Santa Margarita, where they found blood on the front of the vehicle, prosecutors said.