A Vancouver man with two prior arrests for drunken driving, most recently in May, had allegedly been drinking when he turned into the path of a motorcyclist, killing the man, late Wednesday afternoon in the Minnehaha area.
The victim was identified in court records as Mark C. Holm. His age and city of residence were not included in the document.
Carlos J. Hoyos Gonzalez, 26, appeared via video Thursday on suspicion of vehicular homicide in Clark County Superior Court. Judge Suzan Clark set his bail at $100,000; he will be arraigned Sept. 2, court records show.
Clark County sheriff’s deputies were called about 5:20 p.m. for an injury crash at the intersection of Northeast Minnehaha Street and Northeast 47th Avenue. Upon arrival, they learned that Hoyos Gonzalez was driving a 1997 Ford Econoline van west in the left lane of Minnehaha when he attempted to make a U-turn in the intersection with 47th Avenue. He turned into the path of a westbound 2020 Kawasaki EX400 motorcycle, driven by Holm, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
The motorcycle struck the right front of the van. Holm was pronounced dead at the scene, the affidavit says.
A witness reported that the van had left the road several blocks before the crash and may have struck a fence. It continued west on Minnehaha, weaving in and out of the lanes, and nearly struck other vehicles. The witness said it also appeared the driver tried to race a different vehicle, according to the court document.
Dispatch had received multiple 911 calls describing a white, work-style van with ladders on top that was involved in several hit-and-run crashes. Hoyos Gonzalez’s van matched the description and had fresh damage to the right rear unrelated to the crash with the motorcycle, court records state.
A detective on scene saw empty beer bottles in Hoyos Gonzalez’s van. While speaking with him, deputies could smell alcohol, and noted that his eyes were bloodshot and watery — though, it appeared he had been crying, the affidavit says.
Hoyos Gonzalez told deputies he had been drinking alcohol “just down the road” before the fatal crash. He initially agreed to a field sobriety test but changed his mind after the test started, the court document states. A search warrant was obtained to draw Hoyos Gonzalez’s blood for testing.
Deputies learned he was arrested for DUI in July 2018 and May 2020; his license was suspended, and he’s required to have an ignition interlock device in his vehicle, which he did not have, according to the affidavit.
A friend of Hoyos Gonzalez’s told deputies at the scene that she “knows Carlos is very intoxicated, and he has a problem with alcohol,” the affidavit reads.
She said he has prior arrests for DUI and hit-and-run crashes, and he had struck a vehicle earlier that day while driving in the Vancouver Plaza Target parking lot. A co-worker had been in the van with Hoyos Gonzalez and tried to take away the car keys, she said. Hoyos Gonzalez refused to stop driving and said the co-worker would have to fight him. The co-worker got out of the van and refused to ride with him, court records state.
Hoyos Gonzalez came to the friend’s house later in the day and was intoxicated, she said. Her husband tried to take away Hoyos Gonzalez’s keys, but he left in the van. He backed into a neighbor’s fence across the street, the woman said, and she learned of the fatal crash shortly after, the affidavit says.
A deputy noted on a jail intake questionnaire that Hoyos Gonzalez’s airbag had not deployed during the crash, and there was minimal damage to the front of his vehicle. Hoyos Gonzalez refused medical treatment and said he was uninjured, the deputy wrote.
