Idaho man charged with manslaughter, DUIs after crash kills woman, hurts 2 people
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Ruth Brown & Jacob Scholl, Idaho Statesman
A 20-year-old Nampa man is charged with three felonies in connection to a crash on Sunday that killed one woman and injured two other people.
Grayson Thurston is charged on suspicion of felony vehicular manslaughter and two counts of felony aggravated driving under the influence. He remained in custody at the Canyon County jail as of Monday afternoon.
The 2 a.m. crash happened at the intersection of South Florida Avenue and Key West Street in Caldwell, according to Idaho State Police. Janet Gonzalez, 37, was southbound on Florida Avenue in a 2001 Mitsubishi Galant when her vehicle was struck by Thurston’s 2007 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck, police said. Thurston was also headed southbound on Florida Avenue.
Gonzalez died at the scene, and two passengers in her vehicle were injured in the crash. Roberto Gonzalez Diaz, 40, was taken by ground ambulance to Caldwell’s West Valley Medical Center. A juvenile passenger in Gonzalez’s car was taken by ground ambulance to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise. Further information about their condition Monday was not available.
According to a probable cause affidavit, a witness told police that he pulled up to the crash scene shortly after it happened and helped Thurston out of his pickup. The witness reported that Thurston was “not OK.”
Police later interviewed Thurston at the Saint Alphonsus Medical Center in Nampa, where he allegedly admitted to drinking two shots of rum at a friend’s house in Caldwell before driving. Thurston consented to a blood draw, police said, which took place just after 5 a.m., once police obtained a warrant.
After Thurston was medically cleared by the hospital, he was taken into police custody. An officer observed a “strong odor of an alcoholic beverage” coming from Thurston outside of the hospital, according to the affidavit.
Thurston appeared before a Canyon County judge for an arraignment hearing on Monday afternoon.
This article first appeared in the Idaho Statesman. It is used here with permission.