A Vancouver man was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for a February 2020 drunken-driving crash that killed two of his friends.
Luis Perez Salinas, 27, pleaded guilty Wednesday to vehicular homicide, operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. A second count of vehicular homicide and a charge of hit-and-run resulting in death were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
Washington State Patrol troopers said Perez Salinas was driving a 2011 Ford Fusion at about 2:20 a.m. Feb. 2, 2020, east on South 11th Street in Ridgefield and ran a stop sign at the intersection with South Timm Road. Senior Deputy Prosecutor Jessica Smith said Perez Salinas and three friends had left ilani casino, where he had consumed three beers before driving.
He drove the car straight through a wire fence and vaulted off a 30-foot embankment. The car flipped and came to rest on its top on southbound Interstate 5. The car’s engine compartment then caught fire, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
Two of Perez Salinas’ passengers — identified as Aristeo Alejopable, 31, and Margarito Alejopable, 43 — died at the scene. A third passenger — Josue B. Gonzalez, 23 — was taken to a local hospital.
Two witnesses, Kenneth Olinger and Stormy Bates, stopped to help. They removed three of the occupants from the vehicle. The driver, later identified by troopers as Perez Salinas, exited the vehicle on his own. He fled on foot while Olinger and Bates rendered aid to the other occupants, the affidavit says.
A K-9 from the Clark County Sheriff’s Office was brought in to track Perez Salinas. He was found about 200 feet south of the crash scene, hiding in bushes on an embankment on the shoulder of southbound I-5, according to court records.
Before being taken to a hospital, Gonzalez told a responding trooper he was the front passenger and Perez Salinas was the driver, the court document states.
The trooper who contacted Perez Salinas said his eyes were bloodshot and watery, and there was a strong odor of alcohol on his breath. Perez Salinas refused to perform voluntary field sobriety tests. Smith said Wednesday that Perez Salinas’ blood-alcohol level was 0.16. In Washington, a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 is considered evidence of drunken driving.
His attorney said Wednesday that although Perez Salinas will pay for the crime in prison, he’s dealing with the guilt every day.
Before ordering the 86-month prison sentence, Judge Emily Sheldrick said she hoped for healing and forgiveness for the victims’ families and for Perez Salinas.
