Affidavit: Man said he drank beer, smoked pot hours before friend died jumping out of car

The man charged with Driving While Intoxicated in the aftermath of a freeway death allegedly told investigators he drank about six to seven beers and smoked marijuana in the hours leading up to his friend’s death on I-10 east near downtown, a criminal complaint states.

Police charged Christian Anthony Chavez, 20, with DWI on February 28, 2019. He was booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility under a $10,000 bond.

Police said both Chavez and 23-year-old Andres Reyes Carrasco were riding in a 2006 Pontiac G6 at about 1:37 a.m. “Reyes Carrasco was killed when he fell out of the moving vehicle and was struck by other vehicles,” said police, adding investigators had not yet determined whether Chavez or Reyes Carrasco was driving the Pontiac.

A criminal complaint obtained by ABC-7 states police officers dispatched to the scene of the wreck found the Pontiac parked on the right shoulder with the back right door open. “The officer observed a body leaned up against the vehicle with a white sheet over it,” the document states, “The officer further observed a box of Bud Light in the back seat near the deceased body, but was unable to tell if it had been opened.”

The criminal complaint further states Chavez told investigators Reyes Carrasco was driving the Pontiac and jumped out of the moving vehicle. Chavez, the document states, said he had to immediately take control of the wheel. Chavez reportedly pulled the handbrake to slow the vehicle onto the shoulder.

According to the court document, Chavez told police he ran onto the freeway and dragged Reyes Carrasco’s body onto the right shoulder. “(Chavez) further advised that he then got into the driver’s seat and backed the (Pontiac) up in an attempt” to park the vehicle near Reyes Carrasco’s body, the criminal complaint states. Police said Chavez ran over Reyes Carrasco’s body while backing up the car.

Police at the scene “observed bloody tire tracks with brain matter leading from a pool of blood to the vehicle,” the criminal complaint states.

Chavez allegedly told police he “had been drinking all day” and that both he and Reyes Carrasco were at a friend’s house at about three or four in the afternoon, where Chavez consumed six to seven beers, the court document states

At about four or five in the afternoon, Chavez and Reyes Carrasco had dinner at an Asian buffett. Chavez allegedly told police, that while in the restaurant’s parking lot, he smoked “a few puffs” of marijuana, the document states.

A police officer performed a field sobriety test on Chavez and determined Chavez was in no condition to operate a motor vehicle “due to the mixture of alcohol and marijuana,” police said. Chavez provided a breath specimen and a blood sample, police said. The toxicology results are not yet available.

The criminal complaint does not detail what happened in between the time Chavez and Reyes Carrasco had dinner and Reyes Carrasco’s death hours later. The document does not explain why Reyes Carrasco jumped out of the moving vehicle.

Online jail records indicate Chavez has bonded out of jail.