Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Police: East Las Vegas DUI suspect smelled of alcohol, yet claimed he wasn’t drinking

Having accelerated his blue Chevrolet Camaro to twice the speed limit, the motorist veered onto wrong-way traffic in the east valley, smashing head-on against a bystander’s SUV and seriously injuring the driver.

Even worse: 20-year-old Adan Jose Corona, the Camaro’s unrestrained passenger, sat lifeless on his seat.

The Camaro driver, Jesus Guzman, 23, told Metro Police he hadn’t had a single alcoholic drink, even when his breath, his bloodshot eyes and his slurred speech told a different story, according to his arrest report.

Guzman, previously arrested in September for a different DUI misdemeanor, had served out a suspended jail sentence. Earlier this year he finished community service and DUI school requirements, according to Las Vegas Justice Court records. A 4-month promise to stay out of trouble had been satisfied on April 29.

But now Guzman is locked up at the Clark County Detention facing more serious charges: two counts of DUI and one count each of reckless driving and driving with a revoked driver’s license, jail logs show.

Police and medics were summoned about 5:50 a.m. on July 7 to the crash near Sahara Avenue and Palm Street, near Boulder Highway. The posted speed limit is 35 mph. But the 2015 Camaro was flying at an “egregious” speed of about 70 mph around the time he crossed over a median and headed the wrong-way, police said.

The driver of a Chevrolet Equinox, a 62-year-old Las Vegas woman, who was heading west on Sahara, saw the Camaro heading toward her and tried to avoid impact by slamming on the brakes, police said. The effort was futile, as the impact was significant enough that it sent her SUV backwards.

Officers found a disoriented, seriously injured Guzman who couldn’t say where the crash had happened, and who stated that he hadn’t drank any alcohol or consumed any drugs, police said. First, he said he was heading to work, then he said he was going to his father’s house.

“Guzman was telling different stories of where he was last night,” police wrote.

Police took blood samples, which results weren’t provided in the arrest affidavit. Guzman will next appear in court on July 29, jail records show.

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