Twins who lost parents in Peninsula street racing crash awarded $33 million

REDWOOD CITY – A San Mateo County jury awarded $33 million to twin girls who lost their parents in a violent street racing crash nearly four years ago in Redwood City.

Cesar Morales, who was 17 years old at the time, and his parents, Arnold Morales and Susana Salto Alvarez, were found liable Tuesday after a nearly three-week wrongful death trial. The verdict came close to four years after the Nov. 4, 2022 collision that killed Gregory Ammen, 44, and Grace Spiridon, 42. Their then-7-year-old daughters survived the crash.

The jury also found that Grace Spiridon had no fault in the collision — which Niall McCarthy, attorney for the twins and Maria-Liza Spiridon, the girls’ aunt and adoptive mother, said was “very important to the family.” The defendants had blamed her for the collision for four years, he added.

“It was incredibly painful to hear our sister blamed for a tragedy she did nothing to cause, especially knowing her daughters will one day learn those accusations were made,” Maria-Liza Spiridon said in a statement.

“We hope the public record now reflects the truth — that Grace was an innocent victim,” she added. “Our focus remains on helping these girls heal while honoring the beautiful lives of both Grace and Greg.”

Cesar was sentenced to 90 days of electronic home monitoring last year after being found guilty of two counts of felony vehicular manslaughter, three counts of engaging in a speed contest resulting in great bodily injury and one count of engaging in a speed contest. Kyle Harrison, 25, the other person involved in the street race, pleaded no contest to charges including vehicular manslaughter and was sentenced to eight years in prison. He died in custody last March.

The jury found that both Cesar Morales and Harrison were negligent and that their negligence was a “substantial factor” in the harm caused to the twins, according to the jury verdict form.

The jury also found that Arnold Morales and Alvarez were negligent in supervising their son, meaning they should have reasonably been aware of his habits that “created an unreasonable risk of harm to other persons,” according to the jury verdict. They were not found negligent for entrusting their son with the vehicle he was driving at the time of the collision.

McCarthy said that was because Cesar Morales’ name was on the car’s registration, meaning the parents did not lend him a car they owned. He added that, in the case of the negligent supervision finding, the parents ignored “repeated warning signs about problematic driving behavior,” pointing to a speeding ticket he recieved for going 108 miles per hour on the freeway and a ticket for texting while driving on the freeway, both of which had notices mailed to the house that that the parents said they did not see.

The jury awarded the twins economic damages of almost $19 million total and non-economic damages — accounting for the loss of their parents’ companionship and love — of $7 million each. Of the defendants, Cesar Morales was apportioned 60% of the fault, Arnold Morales 20% of the fault, Alvarez 5% of the fault and Harrison 15% of the fault.

McCarthy said that he is “very pleased with the jury’s verdict” and that he hopes it encourages other Bay Area parents to be proactive about their children’s driving.

“It’s our firm belief that this tragedy was not caused by one decision made by a teenage driver one night on El Camino Real,” McCarthy said. “It was made by a series of decisions made by the Morales family leading up to this tragedy.”

“The bottom line is that if you’re a parent of a teenager and you’re put on notice of problematic driving, you’ve got to take action to protect the community,” he added. “It’s not just your child who’s at risk. They’re placing everyone at risk.”

Philip Segal, the attorney for Arnold Morales and Alvarez, said that the jury’s verdict in finding his clients negligent was a “travesty.” He added that the jury “did a fair job” in awarding damages to the girls.

“There was no credible evidence that the parents knew or should have known that their son was unfit or incompentent to drive, or that this was going to happen,” he said. “It was a crazy, impulsive decision by a 17-year-old, and it sends the wrong message to the community.”

James M. Treppa, attorney for estate of Kyle Harrison, and Sherrett Walker, attorney for Cesar Morales, did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

The civil case stemmed from a wrongful death lawsuit filed in 2023. It alleged Cesar and Harrison pulled up to a stoplight at El Camino Real and Howard Avenue in San Carlos and started revving their engines, while two passengers in Cesar’s car urged them to race.

The pair hit speeds of 80 to 100 mph on El Camino Real before Cesar’s 2005 Mercedes-Benz E55 slammed into the victims’ Chevrolet Bolt at Finger Avenue in Redwood City, according to the lawsuit. The Chevy was thrown 100 feet in the crash.

The suit also alleged that Cesar’s parents allowed their son to modify the Mercedes-Benz and knew about his “dangerous proclivity for speeding and racing cars.”

“This case has never been about money,” Margaret Petros, an advocate for the victims’ family, said in a statement. “It has always been about accountability, protecting victims’ rights, and ensuring these two young children have a voice. Behind every courtroom file is a family whose lives have been permanently changed.”