A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy was charged with murder after he sped through a school zone at nearly 95 mph and caused a crash killing a 12-year-old boy, the district attorney said.

Deputy Ricardo Castro was also charged Wednesday with vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving stemming from the 2021 car crash in the city of South Gate, near downtown Los Angeles. If convicted, he faces a sentence of life in prison.

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“The deputy showed a conscious disregard for the lives and safety of the people of South Gate by recklessly speeding on a busy street. The behavior is even more confounding since this happened in an area designated as a zone where school children were present,” District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement. “Tragically, a 12-year-old boy was killed in the space where he should have been most safe. His family and classmates are left to try to make sense of such a preventable tragedy.”

Castro, 28, was off-duty when he sped through a 35 mph zone that is limited to 25 mph when children are present. He collided with a car making a left turn, killing Isaiah Suarez Rodriguez and seriously injuring his sister, who was driving.

The deputy was in a pickup that rolled over and injured his passenger, NBC News reported. Gascon said Castro had been involved in multiple collisions and had several traffic tickets on his record, including speeding.

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Records show he made an initial court appearance Wednesday and remains jailed in lieu of a $2.3 million bond. He is currently on leave from the Sheriff’s Department without pay.

"What we can say is, Sheriff Robert Luna expects all members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to always hold themselves to the highest ethical and professional standards," a statement from the department said. "Criminal misconduct will not be tolerated, and Department members who allegedly violate the law will be held accountable."