Trial begins for man accused of killing 2 people while he allegedly drove drunk

The man accused of causing a fiery crash that killed two women and injured two others is standing trial this week in an El Paso County courtroom.

Miguel Vargas, 23, faces two counts of intoxicated manslaughter and two counts of intoxicated assault after the Dec. 28 crash on Mesa Street and Executive.

In prosecutor Chris Miller’s opening statement, he said “Vargas plowed through a brick wall, went down an embankment about 30 feet, hitting a tree, and catching on fire.”

Miller said Vargas was going 90 mph at the time of the crash.

Because of nature of the offense, a blood sample was drawn at the hospital which Vargas agreed to submit.

“The defendant was a 0.25. The legal limit is 0.08,” Miller said of Vargas’ blood alcohol content.

Carlos Armendariz. the prosecution’s first witness, said he was in Cincinnati district just off North Mesa the night of the wreck. He was the designated driver in his group.

“As soon as I saw the vehicle, my eyes fixed on it,” Armendariz said. ” I told my cousin in the car, ‘those people are gonna die.’ I saw the car collide with the curb, then it was airborne. And the next thing I heard (was) a loud noise and the car disappeared.”

The defense introduced surveillance video taken from a nearby Immigration and Customs Enforcement building that showed a vehicle careening into the opposite lane of traffic at a high-speed and then out of view–but not before two bright flashes–were caught on camera.

El Paso Police Special Traffic Investigators said those flashes appeared to be an explosion caused by the car’s impact.

Police said Vargas was speeding in a red Mitsubishi Lancer south on Mesa Street when he lost control at the Executive Center Boulevard intersection just before 2:30 a.m. In the car were Stacy Reyes, 18; Nefi Armendariz, 20; Idaly Reyes, 19; and Kim Araujo, 23.

The vehicle began sliding sideways and crashed through a rock wall before becoming airborne. The car the traveled to the bottom of an embankment at 4171 N. Mesa, struck a tree trunk and caught fire.

Monday, jurors heard graphic testimony from two witnesses who were traveling south on Mesa in a car together when they came across the horrific crash.

One of the witnesses, Eddie Loeza, a practicing nurse, gave an especially detailed account of what he described as a frightening scene.
He told the courtroom he ran through an orange haze, past car parts and debris to the body of a woman on the street and said he knew instantly she was dead.

Loeza also described staying with Reyes sister, Stacy, holding her neck and keeping her conscious until emergency crews arrived.

Neither witness remembered speaking with Vargas, who sat in the courtroom through all of the witness testimony without showing much emotion.

Vargas was treated and released with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.