Suspected impaired driver in fatal crash had prior vehicular manslaughter charge

KTNV

By: Troy Gingerich

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — We're learning new details about a suspected DUI crash that killed one person and seriously injured two others at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Bruce Street over Memorial Day weekend.

Maria Gonsalez, 21, is accused of being impaired and driving at a high rate of speed when her Ford Mustang collided with a Nissan truck driven by 49-year-old Juan Santana-Savalza, who was pronounced dead at the scene of the May 23 crash. A passenger in the Mustang suffered critical injuries.

WATCH | Channel 13 was at the scene of the crash early Saturday morning:

One dead following collision on Washington Avenue and Bruce Street

According to an arrest report obtained by Channel 13, Gonsalez had a prior charge of vehicular manslaughter related to an incident in 2023. The report also says the registration of the Mustang she was driving was suspended in January 2025, making the vehicle unregistered.

According to police, Santana-Savalza was traveling west on Washington Avenue around 5:30 a.m., approaching a "fresh" yellow traffic signal in the left turn lane. Police said he started to make the turn onto Bruce Street before he was struck by Gonsalez, who was traveling east on Washington Avenue. Santana-Savalza was ejected from his vehicle.

Gonsalez was approaching a yellow traffic signal at Bruce Street in the left lane at excessive speed, police said. According to the arrest report, the Mustang's speedometer was "pinned/frozen" between 95 and 100 mph. The posted speed limit in the area is 35 mph.

"Because the needle is driven by a motor rather than gravity or a spring, it instantly freezes exactly where it was when the power died," the arrest report states.

Speedometer of the Ford Mustang involved in crash at Washington and Bruce

The driver failed to decrease speed and use due care and entered the intersection at a high rate of speed as the light turned red," police said in a press release.

According to the arrest report, authorities smelled a "heavy odor" of an unknown alcoholic beverage on Gonsalez. Police said there was also a bottle of Don Julio tequila in "plain and open view" on the passenger side floorboard of the Mustang.

Gonsalez was booked in absentia on charges related to driving under the influence and reckless driving.

She appeared in Las Vegas Justice Court on June 10 via Zoom as she is still hospitalized from the crash. The court was informed that a request was filed on June 9 for her case to be heard by a grand jury.