SAN DIEGO – A San Diego man had been drinking and was high on drugs when he plowed his car into a group of Navy men last month, killing a young sailor, San Diego police said yesterday.

John Montano, 27, was arrested last week on suspicion of felony driving under the influence after tests confirmed alcohol and an illegal drug were in his system the night of the crash in Paradise Hills on June 30, said San Diego police Sgt. Jeff Fellows.

The arrest adds to Montano's legal troubles.

Three weeks after the crash, he was arrested in an unrelated case by federal immigration agents at the Mexican border on suspicion of smuggling marijuana into the United States, according to jail records and police.

He is being held on $60,100 bail in that case.

Police investigating the fatal accident expect to forward their findings to the District Attorney's Office for review this week, Fellows said. Prosecutors will determine what charges, if any, should be filed against Montano.

They also will decide whether to charge the victim's friends, who police say pulled Montano out of the car after the crash and beat him.

Police said six Navy friends were standing in front of a home in a military housing area on Sky Harbor Road about 10 p.m. when a Hyundai sedan came barreling toward them.

Aaron Garcia, a 20-year-old machinist's mate fireman stationed aboard the aircraft carrier Nimitz, was struck and killed. Three others also were hit but not seriously injured, Sgt. Jim Arthur said.

When officers arrived, they found the five survivors restraining a severely injured Montano. He spent four days in the hospital for facial fractures.

Investigators looking into the assault have spent the past few weeks interviewing the five sailors and expect to file the case to prosecutors late this week or early next week, Arthur said.

No one has been arrested in the assault.

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Kristina Davis: (619) 542-4591; kristina.davis@uniontrib.com