Tri-Cities winemaker was dangerously intoxicated when he hit WSP trooper head-on

A celebrated winemaker had a dangerous level of alcohol in his system when he crashed into a Washington State Patrol trooper in Kennewick.

The Washington State Patrol toxicology laboratory found Jeremy S. Santo’s blood-alcohol level was 0.333% about the time of the Feb. 11 crash, Kennewick Police Commander Isaac Merkl told the Tri-City Herald. That is more than four times the legal limit of 0.08%.

While Kennewick police investigators suspected that Santo was driving drunk, they didn’t know how intoxicated he was. Detectives recently received the test results.

Merkl said it’s hard to say how that level of intoxication would have affected him, but according to many experts a blood-alcohol level of 0.4% can be lethal.

Santo was going north in the southbound lanes of Highway 395 in a 2022 Hyundai Tucson about 2 a.m., Merkl said. Trooper Anselmo Sanchez spotted him near Kennewick Avenue.

Sanchez needed to make an immediate response, Lt. Dustin Drout told the Tri-City Herald. He tried to signal Santo to stop, but he didn’t respond, so the trooper stayed in front of him and they collided head-on.

Sanchez suffered minor injuries, and Santo was taken to Trios Southridge Hospital with serious injuries.

Benton County Coroner Bill Leach told the Herald that the hospital reported that Santo developed pneumonia and struggled to recover for three weeks before he died.

Since the crash involved a trooper, Kennewick police handled the investigation rather than the state patrol.

Celebrated winemaker

Santo worked at several of the state’s top wineries, including Chateau Ste. Michelle, Ryan Patrick, Mercer Estates and J. Bookwalter, Northwest Wine Report said.

Joshua Maloney, a consultant who worked with Santo for 10 years, told the Northwest Wine Report that Santo was “universally loved” and everyone who worked with him became a fan.

He grew up Prosser, graduated Prosser High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Washington State University.

Santo, who had a daughter and son, started in the wine industry in 2003 as a laboratory technician at Ste. Michelle Wine Estates in Prosser and worked his way up to being an assistant winemaker.

He later went to Wahluke Wine Company in Mattawa and was a winemaker to Ryan Patrick wines.

He was a winemaker at Mercer Wine Estates in Prosser between 2017 and 2021. He then became a winemaker at J. Bookwalter. Most recently, he worked as a sales representative at a company that provides winemaking, beer and other beverage products.

This story was originally published April 10, 2025 at 11:43 AM.