A 25-year-old Salem man was sentenced Wednesday in Marion County Circuit Court to nearly 26 years in prison after driving drunk into a homeless encampment in downtown Salem in March, killing four residents of the camp and seriously injuring two others.
Tests showed marijuana in Enrique Rodriguez Jr.’s system, and his blood alcohol level was .22% – nearly three times the legal limit – when he crashed, the Marion County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday. His driver’s license was suspended at the time, records show.
Jowand Beck, 24, Luke Kagey, 21, Joseph Posada, 54, and Rochelle Zamacona, 29, were killed when Rodriguez sped his Nissan 300ZX into their encampment on Northeast Front Street, court records show.
Derrick Hart, 43, and Savannah Miller, 28, were seriously injured.
Rodriguez pleaded guilty on Nov. 2 to 11 charges, including four counts of first-degree manslaughter, two counts of second-degree assault, driving under the influence, reckless driving and three counts of reckless endangerment, court records show.
“One person and one person alone stands responsible for the senseless and avoidable deaths of these vulnerable members of our community, and that is Enrique Rodriguez,” said Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson in her office’s statement. “The families of those he killed and those he injured will live with this forever.”
Hours before the crash on March 27, Rodriguez got drunk while partying at a friend’s house and drove to a bar in downtown Salem, according to a sentencing memo written and filed Monday by Clarkson.
A surveillance camera at a nearby sporting goods store captured Rodriguez parking next to his friend, drinking from a bottle of alcohol and walking toward the bar. When he exited the bar around 2 a.m., he can be seen on video “acting recklessly,” driving up on the curb and nearly hitting a friend with his car, the memo states.
Rodriguez was driving about 65 mph when he sped down Front Street, crossed over the center median and careened into the encampment, records show.
A horrific scene awaited Salem police when they arrived at the encampment about 2 a.m., court records show.
Officer Alex Asay, a 20-year member of the Salem Police Department, described finding Miller flat on her back in front of Rodriguez’s car and bleeding from her face. She was screaming in pain and fear for her boyfriend, Kagey, whom officers found trapped underneath Rodriguez’s car with a significant amount of his face missing, the memo states.
Asay asked an encampment resident to sit with Miller and try to calm her as he and fellow officers searched for more victims. They found three others, some gruesomely injured and obviously dead. One victim, Zamacona, was taken to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead, according to the memo.
Hart, who survived, was hospitalized for a month after the crash and spent two months in a rehabilitation center. Miller, the second survivor, suffered broken ribs and liver lacerations, records show.
“Given the enormity of the scene and the obvious destruction, it is incredible that more life was not lost,” Clarkson’s memo said.
Police interviewed Rodriguez at the hospital, who told them some homeless people had walked in front of his car. He expressed concern for the victims until he was refused the opportunity to smoke a cigarette or use his cell phone. According to the memo, Rodriguez “became enraged” and yelled insults at a Salem police officer.
-- Catalina Gaitán, cgaitan@oregonian.com, @catalingaitan_
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