Andrew Vargas, the Hayward 22-year-old who drunkenly plowed into that 9-year-old kid last August after a Giants game, pleaded guilty today to felony DUI in exchange for having hit-and-run charges dropped. He will serve one year in jail. The Cal State East Bay student's attorney said Vargas had a friend in town from Mexico City that evening, August 4, and "got carried away drinking and made the horrible decision to get behind the wheel." Vargas was said to have been over twice the legal limit at the time of the incident.

The child victim, now 10, was Ryan White of Philadelphia, and he survived the ordeal after suffering a traumatic brain injury, lacerated liver, and fractures to his pelvis, left leg, and ankle.

Vargas also injured another woman that night, and ran into two parked cars before returning across the bridge to Hayward, where he was arrested. He had originally pleaded not guilty to felony DUI causing injury and hit-and-run charges, but agreed to the guilty plea today in a bargain. His mother, outside the courtroom, cried and apologized to reporters "for what has happened."

Vargas will be sentenced on March 21. He'll receive credit for time served, and may be released as early as June.

[BCN/Appeal]
PREVIOUSLY: 9-Year-Old Boy Severely Injured in Downtown SF Hit-Tun