Driver faces charges in deadly crash
Passenger killed in Sunday collision; woman, boy in other vehicle injured
Police on Monday were holding a Santa Fe man on suspicion of vehicular homicide in connection with a Sunday night crash on the city’s south side that officers said killed a passenger in his SUV and injured a woman and her 7-year-old son in another vehicle.
A police report said investigators suspect Dominic Friedlein, 24, was impaired by alcohol at the time of the collision at the inter- section of St. Francis Drive and San Mateo Road that left Stefan Siegmann dead just before 8 p.m. Sunday.
The report said Siegmann, who was listed as approximately 30 years old, died at the scene from a head injury.
Friedlein told police he was driving north on St. Francis Drive when he tried to make a left turn onto San Mateo Road, about a block from his apartment. Friedlein said he noticed a southbound vehicle on St. Francis but thought he had enough time to complete the turn, according to a criminal complaint. Friedlein told police the oncoming Chevrolet Cobalt sped up and struck his Toyota 4Runner on the right front side.
Friedlein’s vehicle rolled and came to rest on its roof near the intersection. Friedlein was not seriously injured, the police report says, and a good Samaritan
helped pull a female passenger who also was not seriously injured out of the Toyota.
The engine compartment of the Chevrolet Cobalt caught fire after the collision, according to the complaint.
Pamela Reyes, who was driving the Cobalt, broke both wrists and three ribs in the crash, the document states, and her son suffered a fractured eye socket and had internal bleeding in his nose.
In addition to vehicular homicide, police booked Friedlein on suspicion of two counts of causing great bodily harm to Reyes and her child.
Police wrote that Friedlein smelled of alcohol, had bloodshot eyes, and on a breathalcohol test registered above the legal limit for driving. Officers obtained a blood sample for testing, but police spokesman Greg Gurulé said in an email late Monday that investigators did not yet have results of that test.
Police also reported that Friedlein told them he had consumed three beers that night at Second Street Brewery, though documents don’t specify which of the brewery’s two locations.
Second Street’s management did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
Friedlein had not yet been arraigned in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court as of Monday and had not entered a plea. Online records did not list an attorney. Jail records showed he was being held without bond.
Friedlein on social media lists his hometown as Cottage Grove, Minn., a suburb of the state capital, St. Paul. He moved to Santa Fe in 2015, according to his Facebook profile, and works as a consultant for Fast Enterprises, a software company that contracts with government agencies.
Attempts to reach his suviving passenger on Monday were unsuccessful.
Police said Friedlein told one officer that before the crash he had consumed the three beers on an empty stomach. “Someone else should’ve drove,” Friedlein said, according to police. “I ruined my life today.”