A suspected drunken driver traveling in the wrong lane crashed into a car carrying five Santa Fe teenagers early Sunday morning, instantly killing four of them, police said.

The fifth teen — 16-year-old Avree Koffman, who was driving — was airlifted to University Hospital in Albuquerque, where she was listed Sunday in critical condition, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department.


The man driving the 1992 Jeep Cherokee that plowed into the passenger side of Koffman's 1992 Subaru sedan — 28-year-old Scott Owens of Eldorado — suffered minor injuries in the crash and is being held at the Santa Fe County jail on four counts of vehicular homicide and one count of great bodily injury by vehicle. Owens, who has a prior drunken driving arrest from 2001, smelled of alcohol and appeared intoxicated after the crash but refused to take a breath-alcohol test, said Santa Fe County Undersheriff Robert Garcia.

A judge signed a search warrant Sunday so that hospital personnel could take a sample of Owens' blood, the results of which are pending, Garcia said.

The Sheriff's Department identified the dead teens as Rose Simmons, 15, Julian Martinez, 16, Alyssa Trouw, 16, and Kate Klein, 16. Simmons and Martinez attended Monte del Sol Charter School, while Trouw and Klein went to Santa Fe Preparatory.

"I'm at a loss for words on how to deal with this," Garcia said. "It's devastating. These people (drunken drivers), they don't get it. There's no need for this."

The crash occurred about 12:10 a.m. on Old Las Vegas Highway while the teenagers were heading to Eldorado in Koffman's four-door, maroon Subaru, Garcia said. When Koffman saw Owens' Cherokee traveling west in her eastbound lane, she swerved to her left — into the lane Owens should have been in, he said. However, at the same time, Owens tried to get back into his lane and broad-sided the passenger side of the Subaru, Garcia said.

The damage to the Subaru was catastrophic. The entire passenger side — from the front seat to the back seat — was crushed into the car. All of the teens were wearing seat belts, Garcia said. The impact indicated that both vehicles were traveling about 50 mph, the speed limit, he said.

When a deputy arrived at the scene, he found Owens, who had not been wearing a seat belt, attempting to take a motorcycle out of the back of his Cherokee, Garcia said. Owens, who was able to walk around, was not attempting to help the injured teens, he said.

No alcohol containers were found in either car, he said. However, Owens smelled of alcohol, had bloodshot eyes and slurred his speech, Garcia said. He told deputies he thought he was on his way home to Eldorado, and was apparently unaware that he was, in fact, heading the opposite direction, Garcia said.

Owens was taken to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center and treated for a bruised knee and bruised chest, then booked into the jail, Garcia said. He likely won't be interviewed by investigators until today, said Sgt. Joe McLaughlin, the lead investigator on the case. Garcia said he didn't know where Owens was coming from, but said he wasn't cooperative and did not admit to drinking.

Valentina Gonzales, an employee at Warehouse 21 who was among those at Cathedral Park on Sunday night, said the victims were the lead car in a "party train" of several others that were heading to a party in the Eldorado area. The youths in the other cars were the first ones to come upon the accident, Gonzales said, and the first to try to render assistance.

"It was their friends who got out of the car to check on them," Gonzales said. "It was their friends who checked their pulses to see if they were still alive." Gonzales said the teens also made a point of checking to see if Owens was hurt.

Garcia said the scene on Old Las Vegas Highway was "heart-wrenching." McLaughlin — who was also the lead investigator after a drunken Dana Papst crashed into and killed five members of a Las Vegas, N.M., family in November 2006 while driving the wrong way on Interstate 25 — doesn't like to show his emotions but admitted, "It was a pretty horrific scene."

Owens was arrested for driving while intoxicated and racing on streets June 25, 2001, according to online jail records. And the DWI Resource Center shows that a July, 18, 2001, conviction from Santa Fe Municipal Court was reported to the Motor Vehicle Division; however, the case doesn't register in online court records.

Contact Jason Auslander at 986-3076 or :jauslander@sfnewmexican.com. Staff writers Henry Lopez and Phaedra Haywood contributed to this report.

Observances planned

A community gathering is also being planned at Monte del Sol High School (Click for map and driving directions) from 3-5 p.m. on Monday. The public is invited to attend, said Anne Salzmann, interim head learner at the school.

Santa Fe Prep is also holding a gathering Monday 930-11:30 a.m., which is also open to the public. (Click here for a map and driving directions)

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Dear Readers,

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Please include in the email the names of the people pictured, what you're doing and when the photo was taken.

We will also accept your works of art - poetry, letters or drawings for submissions online.

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Santafenewmexican.com asks, also, that you email us with any additional information you might have if you were in the area of the crash around the time it occurred or knew anyone involved. Please include a phone number at which a reporter may contact you.

Henry M. Lopez
Web editor