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A man is accused of being under the influence of cannabis and methadone when he got into a crash that left his friend dead Tuesday afternoon in Northeast Albuquerque.
Quentin White, 24, is charged with DWI-related homicide by vehicle in the crash that left his 22-year-old passenger Daniel Torres Jr. dead.
White was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on Tuesday night.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court:
Officers responded around 1 p.m. to a two-vehicle crash at Louisiana and Claremont NE, just south of Candelaria. They found White had crashed his car into a pickup, and his passenger, Torres, was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Witnesses told police the car’s driver was speeding and the driver of the truck said he was starting to turn, waiting for a pedestrian to cross, when his vehicle was hit.
White told police he was taking Torres – who he said had drank heavily the night before – to the hospital after he said he wasn’t feeling well and became unresponsive.
White said a truck was stopped in the middle of the intersection and he crashed into it. White told police he had smoked “two puffs” of marijuana and taken 170 mg of methadone earlier that morning.
Police said White had watery, bloodshot eyes and performed poorly on sobriety tests as he couldn’t keep his eyes open during one and “sang the alphabet” instead of telling the officer the letters in another.
A drug recognition expert was called in and found that White – due to his elevated heart rate and pupil size – showed signs and symptoms of cannabis and opioid use.
