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SALT LAKE CITY — Criminal charges were filed Thursday against a West Valley man who police say crashed while fleeing from officers at a high rate of speed, and while driving intoxicated, resulting in the death of his passenger.
Josue Yahir Hernandez-Perez, 20, is charged in 3rd District Court with manslaughter, a second-degree felony.
About 12:15 a.m. on Oct. 8, Salt Lake police were called to a shooting near 876 S. Edison Street. Officers responding to the scene saw a Mercedes leaving the area at a high rate of speed and attempted to pull it over, believing it may be connected to the shooting, according to charging documents.
About a minute later, the Mercedes hit the curb at a roundabout near 1100 East and 900 South, went airborne, hit a tree on the passenger side, and came to rest on the driver's side. Douglas Rodriguez, 21, was pronounced dead at the scene. The officer-involved critical incident protocol was invoked and West Valley police were called to investigate the fatal crash.
According to investigators, data collected from the Mercedes "showed that two seconds before the crash, the vehicle was traveling 71 mph and neither the passenger nor the driver was wearing a seat belt," the charges state.
Hernandez-Perez later claimed to investigators that he was leaving the party with Rodriguez when a police patrol car with its siren on passed them and Rodriguez started "tripping," and told Hernandez-Perez to "go, go, go, go," according to the charges.
"(Hernandez-Perez) claimed that the victim pushed his leg down and told him to go. (Hernandez-Perez) took off and was driving at a high rate of speed for over 1 mile, inconsistent with someone holding his leg down during this time," the charges state. "While fleeing, the defendant crashed his car while going approximately 71 mph through residential neighborhoods, which resulted in the death of the victim. (Hernandez-Perez) had three times the legal limit of alcohol in his system at the time he was admitted to the hospital."
Prosecutors have requested that Hernandez-Perez be held in the Salt Lake County Jail without bail pending trial.
