Wichita driver said ‘I’m drunk’ after hitting man in wheelchair, affidavit says
The driver accused of fatally hitting a man crossing a Wichita street earlier this month told police “I’m drunk” and that he wanted to “just take the charge” during field sobriety testing conducted in the aftermath of the early afternoon collision.
“‘Go ahead, man,’” 36-year-old Jaime Gonzalez-Arambula told a Wichita police sergeant, “like he was wanting to just be arrested,” according to an affidavit released Friday in a case where he’s charged with involuntary manslaughter and driving under the influence in the death of Lawrence A. Grover of Wichita. His next court date is Tuesday.
Police noted Gonzalez-Arambula had “a droopy face, bloodshot eyes, and slurred or delayed speech” when they approached him after he hit Grover with a truck around 1:15 p.m. May 9 at 26th Street North and Amidon, the affidavit says. Police have said Grover was in a wheelchair at the time.
Gonzalez-Arambula “started to fall to the right” and had to be steadied by a police sergeant when he was undergoing a field sobriety test that required he stand with his feet together and his arms to his side. He had trouble “not moving his head” and responded “no man, I’m not” when the sergeant asked if he could drive safely, according to the affidavit.
Gonzalez-Arambula also failed a walk-and-turn test, refused to stand on one leg as directed, said he couldn’t count backward from 73 to 58, and fumbled through a request from police to recite a portion of the alphabet without singing.
“‘ABCDERG HRIKLMNOP CURS TUV NMES 2UZ and now know my BC’s and between you and yeah forgot how it goes, something like that man,’” the affidavit says Gonzalez-Arambula replied.
After he was taken into custody, Gonzalez-Arambula told detectives that “he screwed up and should not have been driving and that he was in the wrong,” according to the affidavit.
He told the detectives he drank a pint of alcohol the night before the crash and started drinking again after waking up at 9 a.m.
Gonzalez-Arambula told police that “he saw the guy in the wheelchair” but thought that Grover was “going to stop.” He also said that “he was not going fast enough to kill someone, but it would have hurt him (Grover),” the affidavit says.
A breath test Gonzalez-Arambula took almost two hours after the crash measured his blood-alcohol concentration at .263 — more than three times the legal limit to drive, the affidavit says.
The event data recorder from Gonzalez-Arambula’s truck also showed he was speeding 50 mph in a 40 mph zone two seconds before he hit Grover, according to the affidavit.
Grover’s obituary says he was a Navy veteran who served in Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm and lived “a life shaped by hard work, responsibility, and a strong sense of duty.” He was a Christian who “carried his beliefs with a quiet strength,” optimistic, friendly and “had a way of making others feel welcome and valued.”
“Though his passing leaves a profound emptiness, his memory will live on in the hearts of those who loved him, in the stories shared about him, and in the example, he set through his service, his sobriety, and his devotion to family,” his obituary says.
