Complaint: Teen in collision was impaired
Driver charged with several counts in crash that killed Colorado woman and injured three.
A young Santa Fe driver accused of rear-ending another vehicle at a high rate of speed Friday night on Interstate 25, causing a crash that killed a Colorado woman and severely injured two passengers, had a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit, according to a criminal complaint.
Luke Griffin, 18, was charged Monday with several offenses, including vehicular homicide, great bodily harm, being a minor in possession of alcohol and speeding, according to the complaint filed in Sandoval County Magistrate Court.
Two different breath-alcohol tests showed that Griffin had a blood-alcohol content of 0.22 and 0.23, nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08, when someone is presumed too impaired to drive. The results of a blood test are pending.
Around 11 p.m. Friday, Griffin was driving southbound on I-25 near the exit for the San Felipe Pueblo travel center and casino when he rear-ended another southbound vehicle, New Mexico State Police said Sunday in a news release.
Corrina Vaden, 49, of Aurora, Colo., died at the scene, and two passengers in her 2014 gray Nissan were taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque with life-threatening injuries, the news release says. Police didn’t release any other information Tuesday.
A witness told police that a silver 2004 Audi, later determined to be driven by Griffin, was traveling behind him at over 100 mph and then switched to the right lane to pass his vehicle, the criminal complaint says.
Another witness saw Griffin throw a liquor bottle over a fence as he got out of his vehicle after the crash, according to the complaint.
The complaint says Griffin told a state police officer at the scene that he drank three beers about five hours before
the crash.
A relative of Vaden in Colorado couldn’t be reached by phone Tuesday, but a fundraising campaign for her family on gofundme.com says she had three children with her husband, James, and was on her way to a Spartan race at the time of the crash. Another gofundme.com campaign for Vaden and her passengers identifies the two injured women as racing team members Kym Butcher and Elizabeth Rotter. The two campaigns had raised more than $30,000 by Tuesday evening.
Tom Clark, a Santa Fe-based lawyer who is representing Griffin, said he didn’t want to comment on the case because he is still gathering information.
Contact Uriel Garcia at 505-9863062 or ugarcia@sfnewmexican. com. Follow him on Twitter @ujohnnyg.