Man was drinking at catering job before running light, killing 2 in crash, charges say
A man accused of driving drunk and causing a car crash in August that left two people dead at an intersection in Tacoma has been charged in Pierce County Superior Court.
Carlos Alejandro Rodriguez, 22, was charged Jan. 5 with DUI vehicular assault and two counts of vehicular homicide for the crash at South 72nd Street and South Yakima Avenue in Tacoma’s South End.
He is to be arraigned Jan. 27.
The Aug. 7 crash killed 63-year-old James Wagner and his wife, Joylene Rae Miller-Wagner, 66. According to charging documents, Rodriguez ran a red light and crashed his 2017 Nissan into the couple’s 2001 Plymouth Neon while driving home from a birthday party he and his father were catering.
Rodriguez’s father was a passenger in his car and was badly injured in the crash. The car belonged to a friend of the defendant who told police he let Rodriguez drive because he felt like he had too much to drink.
The defendant took a portable breath test about two hours after the crash which showed his blood-alcohol content was 0.013 percent, above the legal limit of 0.08 percent.
Charging documents gave this account:
Tacoma police responded about 11:30 p.m. to a collision at the intersection of South 72nd Street and Yakima Avenue, according to the declaration for determination of probable cause. When officers arrived, they found two people dead in one vehicle.
The Plymouth Neon appeared to have taken a significant impact on the passenger’s side, and it came to a rest in part of a fenced yard on South Yakima Avenue. The silver Nissan Altima had significant damage to its front, and it was found just north of the other car.
A passenger in the Nissan, later identified as the defendant’s father, was transported to Tacoma General Hospital. Hospital staff told police the man was in critical condition, suffering from severe hemorrhaging and possibly had a brain bleed.
Several witnesses pointed out Rodriguez to police as the person they saw exit the driver’s seat after the crash, according to the probable cause document.
While police analyzed the collision scene, an officer spoke with Rodriguez, who said his left shoulder was in pain. The officer noted the man’s injuries were consistent with a person sitting in the driver’s seat, but when the officer asked, Rodriguez said he was sitting in the back passenger seat.
Rodriguez told police he and his father had been catering a birthday party for a family in Tacoma, according to the probable cause document. Police said the defendant admitted he had two to three margaritas at the party, and he added more alcohol to them.
They left the catering job at about 11 p.m. and drove to a marijuana dispensary to buy cannabis, but Rodriguez told police they hadn’t smoked any. A blood draw later showed the defendant had psychoactive THC in his blood. According to the charging document, Rodriguez claimed his friend was driving too fast and had been drinking.
At some point, the defendant was transported to the hospital. Police had him perform a portable breath test at about 1:40 a.m., which showed his blood alcohol content as 0.013 percent.
The defendant’s friend, also taken to the hospital, denied driving the car, according to the probable cause document. He told police he felt like he had too much to drink and let Rodriguez drive.
He said Rodriguez was speeding the entire time and that he asked him to slow down multiple times.
“He saw the red light as they came up on the intersection and yelled at [Rodriguez] to slow down as they collided,” police are quoted in the probable cause document.
Through a search warrant, police later found that the Nissan Altima’s airbag control module showed the vehicle was traveling at 83 mph a half-second before the airbag deployed.
