BCSO: Man admits to smoking marijuana hours before fatal crash at Paseo/Second

A Los Lunas man is accused of being under the influence of marijuana and causing a crash that killed a passenger in his pickup Wednesday afternoon.

Miguel Chavez, 20, is charged with vehicular homicide, driving while under the influence and driving on a revoked license.

Chavez is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center. His attorney could not be reached for comment.

At 4:21 p.m. Wednesday, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call of a crash in the area of Paseo del Norte and Second that caused road closures for hours.

According to a criminal complaint filed at Metropolitan Court, a white pickup truck going east was getting off Paseo at the Second Street exit when the driver sped down the off-ramp, crashed into a traffic light pole, hit a car, then went airborne before coming down on the driver’s side.

Deputies said the passenger of the pickup — later identified as Ernesto Arreola, 49 — was killed, while people in the car suffered cuts and were medically cleared. The people in the two other vehicles that were hit during the incident were uninjured.

The complaint said Chavez told deputies he was leaving work in Rio Rancho and traveling home to Los Lunas then fell asleep while driving on Paseo. The deputy said that Chavez, who had red, bloodshot, watery eyes, told them he said he “only had a drag of marijuana” that morning.

In a news release, the Sheriff’s Office said “there were multiple open containers of alcohol found in the vehicle at the time of the investigation.”

Chavez was taken to a local hospital and released.

Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Deanna Aragon said Chavez is also facing DWI charges in Valencia County.