BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A man has been sentenced to 13 years and four months in prison for driving under the influence of alcohol in a crash that seriously injured two teen girls, paralyzing one of them.

Mark Gallegos, 23, was sentenced March 6 after being found guilty of hit-and-run causing serious injury and DUI-related offenses in the Christmas Day 2018 crash that left Emmy Elias, then 12, with permanent brain damage and paralysis. She can’t move by herself or communicate.

Ariany Ramirez, then 11, also suffered brain injury and had to learn how to walk again. She continues to experience memory loss and seizures.

Gallegos’ car ran a red light and slammed into an SUV at about 2:10 a.m. at the intersection of Niles Street and Sterling Road.

Gallegos left his wrecked car on foot and made his way to Kern Medical, where staff notified law enforcement a young man had arrived with injuries consistent with being in a vehicle crash. Interviewed at the hospital, Gallegos admitted to driving the car and leaving the scene.

Tests performed a couple hours after the crash revealed his blood-alcohol content to be .105 and .103%, above the .080% legal limit.

Gallegos’ attorney, Deputy Public Defender Clinton Pierce, argued at trial the prosecution had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt Gallegos was intoxicated at the time of the crash and said he left the scene because he was injured and needed treatment.