A single-car accident that left one man dead and sent another to the hospital diverted traffic on Western Boulevard for several hours Monday afternoon.
The driver is now facing five separate charges for that wreck, including involuntary manslaughter and driving while impaired.
According to the police report, Abel Dominguez, 35, was driving a Chevrolet Blazer westbound on Western Boulevard between Dan Allen Drive and Varsity Drive when he lost control of the vehicle. The SUV struck two trees in the median after running off the road. Dominguez then overcorrected, sending him and passenger Esteban Sandoval, 32, careening back towards the right side of the road. The vehicle rolled twice before hitting a tree in the divider between Faucette Drive and Western Boulevard.
Sandoval, who, according to Jim Sughrue of the Raleigh Police Department, was not wearing a seatbelt, died on the scene after he was pinned under the vehicle.
Wake County EMS transported Dominguez to WakeMed Hospital, and Sughrue said Raleigh Police are charging him with involuntary manslaughter, driving while licensed revoked, an open container violation, careless and reckless driving and driving while impaired. According to Campus Police officer Ric Parmley, he was conscious and seemed to be coherent as they transported him from the scene.
Sughrue said overturned vehicles are “not that unusual” in many car accidents, but pointed out that alcohol was a big factor in this one.
“It does tend to be a problem around many holidays — July 4 among them,” Sughrue said.
Campus Police officer Kent Sutherland was the first to arrive on the scene around 4 p.m. Monday after witnessing the incident while on patrol. Raleigh Police then took over, and Campus Police stayed on in a support role for close to two hours, according to Jon Barnwell of Campus Police.
For the duration of that time, he said, officers focused on rerouting the rush-hour traffic on Western through campus.
As he pointed out, however, the traffic could have been much worse.
“One good thing was that traffic was relatively light,” he said. “We’re very fortunate this happened over the summer.”
