OGDEN -- A 22-year-old woman was killed in a suspected drunk driving crash and the woman accused of hitting her had a blood alcohol level almost four times the legal limit, police said.
Elsa Alonso died when the car she was driving was struck at the intersection of 30th Street and Adams Ave about 2:30 a.m. Sunday. It careened into a nearby yard.
"She was going home," her boyfriend, Paris Scott, told FOX 13. "It was one block away from her house. One block away. You can stand outside her house and see the crime scene."
Ogden police said the 25-year-old woman who struck Alonso's vehicle was driving an estimated 80 miles per hour in a neighborhood with a 30 mile per hour speed limit.
"Alcohol is a factor, so is speed," Ogden Police Lt. Chad Ledford said Monday. "Her preliminary blood alcohol was almost four times the legal limit."
At the intersection, people who had witnessed the crash laid flowers and lit candles in Alonso's memory. One man knelt and said a prayer. Scattered amongst a growing shrine were car parts and smashed glass from the crash.
"I tried to beat down the windows," Aleisha Gonzales told FOX 13, showing a bruised and bandaged arm. She managed to climb in the back of the car but said when she felt for a pulse on Alonso, there was none.
"It's horrible because she's my age," Gonzales said. "She has a beautiful kid, she was a beautiful young woman. Too young to go."
The 25-year-old woman accused of hitting Alonso remained hospitalized with a broken ankle and head injury, police said. Ogden police refused to name her, but confirmed she had a prior DUI conviction and had an "alcohol restricted license." Investigators were trying to determine if the woman had an ignition interlock device that would have prohibited her from operating the vehicle if she was intoxicated.
"It looks like she had an interlock restriction prior, but we're not sure if that was in effect at the time of this accident or if it had been released by the judge," Ledford said.
Scott said he was worried for the future of Alonso's 2-year-old daughter, Lianhi.
"People drinking and driving, I never thought of it too much until now," he said. "I was hearing about DUIs and drunk driving all the time and it happened to me. It took someone... one of my close loved ones away."
