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Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Friend of Driver: He Seemed Fine
By Phil Parker And Vic Vela
Copyright © 2009 Albuquerque Journal
Friends say Scott Owens had been at a get-together on Rowe Mesa east of Santa Fe until shortly before his vehicle plowed into a car filled with teenagers early Sunday morning, killing four of them.
“It was not a party, it was a barbecue with our kids,” said Jennifer Sedillo, who said she headed up to the mesa about 6:45 that night with her family.
When Owens left a short while before midnight, Sedillo said, “He was fine. He hugged my children, myself, and he was fine.” Sedillo said her own children were friends with some of the victims in the crash.
Owens, 27, who faces four charges of vehicular homicide in a suspected drunken driving accident, made his first court appearance Tuesday. Magistrate Judge George Anaya Jr. issued a $3 million cash-only bond.
The defendant appeared via video telecast from the Santa Fe County jail, where he has been held since the crash. Soft-spoken and clad in a red jail jumpsuit, Owens held his head low as Anaya spoke to him about the charges he faces.
Deputy District Attorney Charles Baldonado asked for the high bond amount, telling the judge that “these are five very serious crimes.”
Owens faces four counts of vehicular homicide and one count of great bodily harm by motor vehicle. Taking into account a prior DWI, Owens could face up to 10 years behind bars for each vehicular homicide charge.
Several teenage friends of the victims entered the courtroom at the end of the hearing, where only bond was set and no plea was given. Some were crying, one seemed to be hyperventilating and some expressed vitriol. One was overheard saying, “He (expletive) killed our friends, that drunken son-of-a-bitch.” Another said, “I came here to plant my fist in his teeth.”
Kate Klein, Alyssa Trouw, Julian Martinez and Rose Simmons were killed in the crash. The driver of their car, Avree Koffman, suffered serious injuries but survived.
Tiffany Blanch went to high school with Owens and was also at Rowe Mesa with him that night. “If he had been falling down drunk, we would have been like, 'You shouldn't drive home,' ” she said. “I didn't witness him drinking.”
Both Blanch and Sedillo, however, said it was possible Owens was drinking even if they didn't see him doing so.
Officers reported they detected an odor of alcohol on Owens and he had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano said blood was drawn from Avree Koffman for toxicology tests, but none of the victims is suspected of having been drinking before the crash.
“It's standard in these situations to draw blood from all the drivers,” Solano said, “so there's no questions later, just to be sure.”
Another affidavit filed Tuesday says Paul Esquivel told investigators he and Owens purchased alcohol at Sunrise General Store, on the north end of Old Las Vegas Trail. Esquivel said, according to the affidavit, that Owens bought a 12-pack of Tecate beer and that he (Esquivel) bought a 12-pack of Budweiser beer and a half-pint of Smirnoff vodka.
Esquivel told the Journal they didn't drink it all.
“We probably drank a 12-pack and a half between five people,” he said. “The last time I saw Scott, he was fine. He wasn't drunk and that was 30 minutes before the accident.”
Blanch said she was in a car that pulled up behind the wreckage shortly after the accident.
“When we pulled up a bunch of these kids were walking away from the scene,” she said. “They were screaming, 'Everyone's dead,' and we were freaked out because we thought he (Owens) was dead. Once I saw he was there I left the scene because ... there was nothing we could do. Once the paramedic asked us to leave, we left.”
Law enforcement officials are looking at other possibilities regarding Owens' whereabouts before the crash.
A search warrant affidavit filed Tuesday by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office indicates officers says a witness claims to have seen Owens at The Matador, 116 W. San Francisco St., between 9:30 and 10:30 p.m.
“He (the witness) stated that while inside The Matador, he saw Mr. Owens at the bar section of the establishment...,” the report says. “He stated that he recognized the subject because in the past he 'hung out' with Mr. Owens' roommate.”
Owens' mother, Barbara, said the witness must be mistaken. “Scott's never had a roommate — either he's lived here with me or was living with his girlfriend,” she said.
Three carloads of teens were headed toward Eldorado that night in a caravan.
Some reports have suggested that another car, driven by Taylor Johnson, 16, and a student at Monte del Sol Charter School, was driving the lead car, sideswiping Owens' Jeep and forcing it into the wrong lane.
Tracy Tague, Johnson's mother, said that's not true.
She said Johnson was driving behind Avree Koffman's Subaru when it was struck by Owens. Johnson's car, a white Subaru, also hit the Jeep before stopping several yards past the accident. That claim is backed up by comments from the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office the day of the wreck.
Johnson's car suffered about $2,000 worth of damage to its front and driver's side door, Tague said. Neither Johnson nor the three passengers in her car suffered any injuries.
Tague said the teenagers took Old Las Vegas Highway that night, instead of the interstate, because Koffman's car “doesn't go over 65 miles per hour.” Tague said her daughter also avoids driving on I-25 “because the highway freaks her out.”
Tague's niece was in that car as well.
“They're having a hard time sleeping,” Tague said of her daughter and niece. “They're barely eating. They want to read the newspaper, listen to the news, but it freaks them out. They'll never, ever have this vision out of their head. They'll always be seeing that flash before their eyes.”
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