A man suspected of driving drunk and high has been charged two months after he slammed into a vehicle with two teens at 100 miles per hour, killing them instantly.
Delfino Lopez-Morales, 36, is facing two counts of vehicular homicide in the deaths of Riley Danard, 18, and Khalea Theouk, 18, who were killed on March 22.
Court papers released this week indicate the man was driving 55 miles over the speed limit and in the wrong direction on the West Seattle Bridge.
The crash occurred just after midnight, hours after Danard turned 18, and as the teens were driving home from celebrating his milestone birthday.
Riley Danard (left) and Khalea Theouk were killed instantly when the sedan they were driving in on March 22 was struck head on by a vehicle driven by a suspected drunk driver
A man suspected of driving drunk and high has been charged two months after he slammed into a vehicle with two teens at 100 miles per hour, killing them instantly
According to local reports, police administered a test three hours after the crash and discovered that his blood alcohol content was 0.14 – nearly twice the legal limit.
His THC level also tested at a 2.8. Inside his car, officers allegedly found an empty beer bottle in his passenger seat.
Lopez-Moralez had borrowed the white truck he was driving from a friend.
Shocking video from the scene shows Lopez-Morales’ vehicle speeding down the wrong side of the West Seattle Bridge just seconds before the collision.
The collision itself was captured on Seattle Department of Transportation cameras but has not been released by officials.
He had driven over a concrete curb that divides the lanes of the bridge.
Immediately after, footage from traffic cams on the bridge captured the cars on the bridge with severe damage to the front end of each vehicle.
The sedan Danard and Theouk were in appeared totaled with the car’s hood completely bent into the front windshield.
The video shows bystanders rushing in to help, running to the bridge and plying the doors open to try and remove the three people in the two cars.
The teens were pronounced dead at the scene after EMTs and police arrived.
The teens were pronounced dead at the scene after EMTS and police arrived
Immediately after, footage from traffic cams on the bridge captured the cars on the bridge with severe damage to the front end of each vehicle
The court papers released earlier this week say the suspected drunk driver was badly injured in the crash and is still recovering from his injuries.
Family members and friends spoke with KING 5 after the tragic collision and said that the community will never be the same.
‘I will never get over the loss of my sweet son Riley and his best friend Khalea. This is a nightmare I’ll never wake up from,’ said Riley’s mom Kristie Danard.
‘He was the kindest, most gentle, and loving young man with an incredibly bright future. Riley and Khalea were the most amazing people you could ever meet. They loved each other so much,’ she continued.
‘The world has lost two incredible people. Losing them will forever impact many lives,’ the grieving mother said at the time.
The teens were longtime friends and were both enrolled at Snohomish High School, located roughly 30 miles northeast of Seattle.
Friends and classmates called the tragedy senseless.
A man suspected of driving drunk and high has been charged two months after he slammed into a vehicle with two teens at 100 miles per hour, killing them instantly
‘This did not need to happen, this should not have happened,’ Kelsey Brogan, a friend of the Thouek family, told KING 5 in March.
GoFundMe pages set up for the teens after their deaths raised a combined $67,000 for Danard and Theouk’s funeral expenses.
Lopez-Morales was arrested at the scene after the crash. His bail has been set at $250,000. He will next appear in court on June 15 for his arraignment.
