bridge
This is a representational image showing the Coronado Bay Bridge (background), linking San Diego to Coronado Island, in San Diego, California, Nov. 2, 2001. Getty Images/David McNew

Richard Sepolio, a petty officer in the Navy whose car plunged off a bridge in San Diego killing four people below, was convicted Wednesday of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. The jury found the 27-year-old responsible for the deaths as he was driving under the influence at the time.

Sepolio was acquitted of several other charges against him — four counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, one count of driving over the legal alcohol limit and causing injury, and seven counts of reckless driving. Sepolio could face up to 18 years in prison. His sentencing is set for April 2.

"This was a great outcome on this case," prosecutor Cally Bright said out of court, adding: "Nothing will bring back the family members lost that day."

Sepolio was drunk Oct. 15, 2016, when he was arguing with his girlfriend — now his wife — over his cellphone. He tried to speed past another car on the San Diego-Coronado Bridge when he lost control of his pickup and crashed through a concrete barrier and plunged 60 feet into a crowd which was celebrating a motorcycle rally and festival at Chicano Park.

Four people standing below the bridge died while seven others were injured. The dead were Cruz Elias Contreras, 52; AnnaMarie Contreras, 50; Andre Christopher Banks, 49; and Francine Denise Jimenez, 46.

The prosecution told jurors during the trial Sepolio chose "to drive irritated, impaired and impatient."

Defense attorney Paul Pfingst said outside court Wednesday he was disappointed with the verdict as jurors didn't find he was driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit but he was still convicted of DUI, KFMB-TV reported.

"My client is a very good, decent, young man who was not driving over the legal limit, and had a traffic accident which has led to this. He will pay a heavy price for that, as will his family," Pfingst said. "But there are people who have been killed as a result of this, so there's a lot of sadness to go around. I hate these cases ... where good people, driving under the legal limit, get into a traffic accident ... Who could have foreseen that you could go over the railings of a bridge, who could have foreseen that there were people underneath in massive numbers? It's just an extraordinary series of events that created this tragedy."

After the verdict was announced, Sepolio was taken into custody without bail.

“Mr. Sepolio has conducted himself honorably throughout the case,” the judge said. “However different considerations apply once a person has been found guilty of a felony, particularly a serious felony.”

Timothy Contreras, nephew of Annamarie and Cruz Elias Contreras, said after the verdict: "I wake up thinking about them. I just can't believe they're gone. This is just a tragic situation ... accident -- I don't know if I'd call it an accident. He (Sepolio) obviously made choices that day -- something happens like this, it's just unbelievable, and you wake up every day and say 'how did this happen?'"