Driver admits drinking 4 beers before deadly head-on in Benton County

A driver said he drank four beers about three hours before crashing his truck head-on into a car on a southern Benton County highway, killing a 68-year-old Kennewick man.

Jesus Avalos Chavez, 42, has been charged with felony vehicular homicide for the March 5 collision on Highway 14 along the Columbia River.

The charge in Benton County Superior Court includes the allegation that Chavez was driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or a drug.

Washington State Patrol troopers were called to the scene — six miles east of Paterson — at 11:55 p.m. last Friday.

They found Manuel Guajardo dead inside his 2000 Volkswagen Beetle after being hit by Chavez’s 2007 GMC Sierra.

Guajardo, 68, of Kennewick had been heading west when the eastbound pickup crossed over the centerline into his lane, according to a state patrol report.

He was a machine operator and had lived in the Tri-Cities for 61 years.

The GMC had to be cut open so Chavez could be removed and taken to Trios Southridge Hospital in Kennewick.

He “gave a statement in which he admitted he was driving and had four beers at around 9 p.m.,” court documents said.

Troopers noticed that Chavez had bloodshot and watery eyes, and told prosecutors he exhibited six of the six “clues” on a sobriety test.

Medical staff at Trios drew two vials of Chavez’s blood after a judge granted a search warrant. Tests to determine Chavez’s blood alcohol concentration are still pending at the WSP toxicology lab, documents said.

Chavez was booked into the Benton County jail just before 4 p.m. Tuesday, following his release from the hospital. His bail is set at $250,000.