Had it not been for his cousin, Reyes Romero might have been the one run down by Carlos Fierro last year on the day before Thanksgiving.

Reyes, a Nambé Pueblo resident now 18 years old, accompanied his cousin Frank Loretto to downtown Santa Fe that night and waited for him outside WilLee's Blues Club on Guadalupe Street. After about four hours, Loretto came out of the bar and the two of them began walking north along the east side of Guadalupe Street, according to their testimony Tuesday in Fierro's trial.

North of the intersection of Montezuma Avenue and Guadalupe, Romero testified that he walked between two parked cars and started to cross. At about the same time, both men heard a loud noise and looked up to see a black BMW that had been heading south on Guadalupe strike a median in the center of the street.

The median, which other witnesses have said popped at least one of the BMW's tires, caused the car to lurch completely into the northbound lane, which was free of automobile traffic at the time, Loretto said. Romero, however, was in the middle of the northbound lane at the time. Loretto said he grabbed hold of his cousin and pulled him out of the way of the car, which traveled in the wrong lane for about 50 feet before heading back to the southbound lane.

"If I wouldn't have grabbed him, it would have hit him," Loretto said.

The two men then looked south down Guadalupe and noticed other people crossing the street in front of the BMW, which was sparking from the flat tire and rim grinding on the pavement. Both men testified they yelled, "Watch out."

William Tenorio, 46, of San Felipe Pueblo was crossing the street, looking south and waving at someone in front of WilLee's at the time, Loretto said. Romero said he thought he saw Tenorio turn his head north toward the oncoming car — as if he might have heard them yell — "but it was too late."

The car struck Tenorio — a large man of about 200 pounds — and he flew about 15 feet into the air, both men testified. The car never braked and never stopped, they said. Both men then ran to Tenorio to try and help him.

"I felt scared, shocked," Romero said.

Loretto said the BMW was going about 35 mph, and that Tenorio was 20 to 30 feet south of the crosswalk at Montezuma and Guadalupe when the crash occurred. Both men said the car's headlights were off, but that the lighting at the crash scene was adequate to see.

Tenorio, a DJ and father of three, later died of his injuries. Fierro, a 36-year-old attorney, has been charged with vehicular homicide and causing a fatal accident. Tuesday was the second day of his trial, which is scheduled to run until Oct. 1.

Three other eyewitnesses, including two friends of Tenorio's who were with him that night, testified Tuesday to seeing some or all of the collision and roughly the same details as Loretto and Romero.

The jury also heard from others inside WilLee's who encountered Fierro, Tenorio and former state police Sgt. Alfred Lovato, who was riding in Fierro's passenger seat at the time of the crash.

Raeann Herrera, 24, testified that she and her sister danced with Tenorio, whom she knew from some of his previous DJ gigs, before the three headed out to the bar's smoking patio. There they met Fierro and Lovato, and the entire group hung out for about 40 minutes, she said. Fierro and Tenorio talked about tribal law and tribal government, she said.

"We were having fun," she said.

Herrera — who wasn't drinking that night — testified she thought Tenorio was intoxicated because he was more animated and talkative than he was when she first saw him at the bar a couple of hours earlier. She said she thought Fierro was also intoxicated because his eyes didn't immediately focus on her when she was talking to him. Lovato, she said, was not only intoxicated, but lecherous.

"He tried to kiss me on the cheek and I didn't like that," Herrera said. "It's why we left WilLee's."

Evangeline Red Steer testified to a similar encounter with Lovato.

Red Steer said she knew Fierro from his time as a legislative lobbyist around the Roundhouse — as well as his time in Washington, D.C. — and saw him sitting at the bar that night at WilLee's. She said she approached him, said hello and asked him to dance. Fierro declined but said Lovato wanted to dance, so Red Steer asked Lovato if he wanted to dance.

However, the dance was interrupted. Red Steer said she couldn't understand Lovato when he tried to talk to her. She said, "Excuse me?" and Lovato then "tried to grope me," she testified. Red Steer said she deflected his hand, then escorted the stumbling Lovato back to his seat next to Fierro at the bar because she didn't think he was able to dance.

"I thought he was wasted," she said. "I said, 'I don't want to be a part of this.' "

Contact Jason Auslander at 986-3076 or :jauslander@sfnewmexican.com.

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