Caesar Avalos was using cruise control up Interstate 5, going about 75 mph past Templin Highway on Nov. 8, when he caught a silver flash from another car’s rims in his rearview mirror, then watched the silver streak fly past, he testified last week at the San Fernando Courthouse.
Avalos was almost in tandem with the distance he was keeping from the car ahead of him, he said on the stand, according to the transcripts of the hearing. And then that car hit its brakes, and then, “like, slammed on his brakes,” he added.
Avalos was the first witness called in Thursday’s preliminary hearing for Martin Enrique Cazares, a 21-year-old Wasco man charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, as well as the special allegation that he used a motor vehicle, in causing the death of 60-year-old Bulmaro Chávez Álvarez.
Chavez was pronounced dead at the scene, and Judge Michael Terrell ultimately held Cazares to answer to the allegations in Chavez’s death.
“And I had to hit my brakes harder, and I went to the right side of the freeway, and all I saw, once I started going to the right, was like, a cloud of dust or smoke,” he said, per the court transcript. “And then once the smoke cleared, the dust, all that I saw was a car flipped over, and as I approached — as I got closer, I noticed there was a body on the ground.”
Avalos contacted 911 to report what he had just witnessed. He and the driver of another car that pulled over were quickly able to determine that Chávez had succumbed to injuries sustained in the collision and his subsequent ejection from the vehicle.
Another witness followed Avalos to identify Cazares’ vehicle as one that abruptly passed, “swerved a little back and forth in lane 2, and then struck the back of the white Jeep Cherokee (driven by Chávez).”
Chávez’s Cherokee then lost control and veered into multiple lanes before rolling over and ending up facing the wrong direction in the third lane from the right, with Chávez thrown into the No. 2 lane.
Cazares exhibited slurred speech and watery eyes, and emitted a smell of alcohol, according to testimony from California Highway Patrol Officer Carlos Madera, who was the first to respond to the crash that night.
Cazares told the officer he had consumed a “BeatBox,” a half-liter 22-proof alcohol beverage. He ultimately exhibited several signs of intoxication, and had a blood-alcohol content of 0.123, past the legal limit of .08.
Cazares’ defense attorney, Rafay Shahid, asked Madera if there was another reason he might have exhibited watery eyes right after a fatal crash and also asked whether Chávez was wearing safety restraints at the time of the crash, which he was not, according to the officer’s supplemental report.
Shahid also made an argument on his client’s behalf, prior to Terrell’s ruling, which asked for consideration of a lesser charge. Shahid claimed his client’s actions did not represent “gross negligence” under the law, as there were no “additional aggravating factors.” He also said there was no factual evidence of extreme speed and that his client had stayed at the scene and cooperated, in addition to having no prior record.
Deputy District Attorney Celeste Sanchez countered by mentioning testimony that Cazares was likely going at least 20 mph over the limit, but possibly faster, the way the Cherokee was left “crumpled” by the collision.
Terrell said he found gross negligence in looking at the “totality of the circumstances,” which he described as “the speed that was clearly in excess of 80 miles an hour, given the result of the impact, which is a car was overturned and a body was ejected from the vehicle, given the fact that the blood-alcohol test showed a level far above the 0.08 percent,” in his ruling.
Cazares is due back in court July 16 to answer to the charge.
