PHOENIX — A suspect has admitted to drinking alcohol while driving after being in a rollover crash that killed three family members and injured five people.
The Department of Public Safety reported a rollover crash on Loop 202 Saturday night. Initial reports said two cars crashed on eastbound Loop 202 at 40th Street at South Mountain.
A mother, a father and their 12-year-old son were killed as a result of the crash and five others were taken to the hospital in critical condition. One person required extrication from a car, DPS said.
The suspect, who was identified as 23-year-old Ariyan Guy, was driving a blue ford fusion and travelling at a high rate of speed while also drinking alcohol, police said he admitted.
Officials said Guy crashed into a Chevrolet Suburban van that had 6 people inside. The impact caused the van to rotate off the road and flip over multiple times.
Police said five of the van's occupants were ejected during the crash. Of those ejected, three people, who were identified as Juan Carlos Gaspar, 45, of Laveen, Selma Gaspar, 45, of Laveen and Carlos Gaspar, 12, were pronounced dead on the scene.
The other three van occupants were taken to Chandler Regional Hospital with serious life threatening injuries including broken bones, lacerations, brain bleeds and open wounds to the cranium.
Officials said the Ford Fusion also rolled over multiple times causing Guy's juvenile female passenger to have life-threatening injuries to her body.
Police said Guy admitted to buying alcohol from a store and drinking some while driving. Officers found opened bottles of Dos Equis, Jack Daniel's, and Tennessee Honey Whiskey inside Guy's car.
Guy was arrested and booked on felony charges including three counts of manslaughter and four counts of aggravated assault.
Deaths on Arizona roadways:
Data from the Arizona Department of Transportation shows that roadway fatalities have been gradually rising in Arizona over the last decade:
- 2011: 825 deaths
- 2012: 821 deaths
- 2013: 844 deaths
- 2014: 774 deaths
- 2015: 895 deaths
- 2016: 952 deaths
- 2017: 1,000 deaths
- 2018: 1,010 deaths
- 2019: 982 deaths
- 2020: 1,057 deaths
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