A driver who sent a car airborne and onto the roof of an Idaho home, killing his front-seat passenger, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison nearly two years after the crash.
Angel Eduardo Rico was 18 when the December 1, 2024 wreck killed 31-year-old Jose Teran Chaparro in Nampa. Rico and another passenger were injured; nobody inside either of the two damaged homes was hurt.
Before the fatal wreck, Rico had already accumulated 11 traffic-related cases dating to 2021.
On September 22, 2026, Rico returned to court for sentencing on felony vehicular manslaughter, with prosecutors citing black-box data along with evidence that he had been drinking and using drugs the previous night.
Malparkage
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Nampa dispatchers began receiving 911 calls at 9:12 a.m. reporting that a car had left East Amity Avenue and landed on a house. The Nampa Police Department said Rico was traveling west at a high rate of speed when he failed to negotiate the curve at Diamond Street, crossed into a private yard and launched off a berm, striking one home’s chimney before landing on the roof next door.
Rico and the rear-seat passenger were taken to area hospitals, while Chaparro, who was riding in front, died at the scene from blunt-force injuries, according to the Canyon County Coroner’s Office.
The impact also damaged power lines. Idaho Power spokesperson Sven Berg told the Idaho Statesman that 3,860 customers lost electricity, with service restored around 3:25 p.m.
The Curve, the Berm and the Roof
David Day, whose house lost its chimney, told the Idaho Statesman that cars had missed the turn and ended up on his property multiple times before, prompting him to build the roughly three-foot berm Rico eventually hit.
Day and his wife were home when they heard what he called “the loudest bang you ever heard.” He believed the berm may have kept the car from continuing through their house.
Next door, 80-year-old Sylvia Eshelman was watching a church service when the impact knocked out her power; she told the Statesman she initially had no idea a car had landed above the utility-room and kitchen area of her home.
A woman whose grandmother’s home was damaged in the crash wrote that her grandmother had complained for months about people racing on Amity. Another nearby resident called speeding and racing a daily and nightly problem, while others said excessive speed on the stretch had bothered them for years.
One resident said drivers treated the road “like it is a race track,” while another described hearing cars drifting through the area early in the morning and late at night. Day’s berm was his own response to cars repeatedly leaving the road there. On December 1, it became the launch point for Rico’s car.
Rico Had a History
Five days after the crash, Nampa Police announced Rico’s arrest at his Caldwell residence after his release from the hospital.
Rico’s Idaho court history stretched back to 2021, with 11 traffic-related cases before the fatal wreck. That year, he was found guilty of speeding and driving without a valid license; more license and insurance violations followed that spring, along with a racing-on-a-public-highway allegation that was later reduced or amended to speeding. Rico pleaded guilty to the reduced charge and completed an Alive at 25 driving program that year.
A 2022 stop resulted in a default judgment for driving at least 16 mph over the limit and a guilty plea in a separate misdemeanor driving-without-privileges case. The following year brought another default judgment for driving at least 16 mph over and another guilty plea for driving without privileges.
His final case before the fatal wreck came in March 2024, when he faced speeding and misdemeanor reckless-driving charges in Ada County. Rico pleaded guilty to speeding under a July plea agreement, while prosecutors dismissed the reckless-driving count.
The record drew attention on Reddit after Rico’s arrest. One commenter, reacting to the repeated license cases, wrote: “Clearly having a drivers license is not an issue he deems necessary to operate a vehicle.”
The Cost
In its September 2026 sentencing announcement, the Canyon County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said the vehicle’s event data recorder, commonly called a black box, showed Rico traveling at a high rate of speed in the moments before impact.
Rico pleaded guilty to felony vehicular manslaughter in May 2026. At sentencing, Deputy Prosecutor Scott Vermeer sought 15 years in prison, with seven fixed before parole eligibility.
“A man is dead,” Vermeer told the court. “The seriousness of this situation cannot be overstated.”
Defense attorney Alex Briggs asked the court to consider Rico’s age and sought retained jurisdiction followed by probation, telling Judge Randall Grove, “One of his best friends is dead.”
Grove rejected probation, telling Rico, “You killed your friend. You have to live with that each and every day for the rest of your life.”
He imposed a 12-year state-prison sentence, with three years fixed and nine years indeterminate. Rico can seek parole after serving the fixed portion; court records also show 48 days of credit for time served and an absolute five-year driver’s-license suspension beginning after his release.
Canyon County Prosecuting Attorney Chris Boyd called the wreck a “senseless tragedy” that killed one man and shattered two families.
“No sentence can undo that loss,” Boyd said, “but today’s outcome reflects that reckless choices carry real accountability.”