GREENLEAF, Idaho — One driver is dead and another is facing criminal charges after their vehicles collided head-on on Highway 19 in Canyon County Tuesday afternoon.
The wreck happened at 4:19 p.m. near the intersection with Notus Road in Greenleaf.
According to Idaho State Police, 30-year-old Pedro Avalos of Caldwell was driving west in a Toyota Camry when he crossed over the centerline into the oncoming lane.
Avalos' car crashed into an eastbound Ford Ranger driven by 35-year-old Adam Hawthorne of Nampa. The impact caused Hawthorne's pickup to roll, and both vehicles came to a stop on the right shoulder.
Hawthorne was taken by ambulance to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Nampa, where he died from his injuries.
Multiple witnesses reported seeing Avalos driving aggressively just before losing control of his car and hitting Hawthorne's pickup, ISP says.
Avalos was taken to West Valley Medical Center in Caldwell for treatment, then arrested and booked into the Canyon County Jail. He faces a felony charge of vehicular manslaughter and a misdemeanor charge of injury to a child.
Police say Avalos had a small child in the car with him at the time of the wreck. That child was unhurt.
"Troopers would like to thank the motorists who stopped at the crash site and reported the behavior they'd seen from the suspect driver just prior to the crash," ISP officials wrote in a release.
Both eastbound lanes and the left westbound lane of Highway 19 were blocked for four hours while crews cleared the scene. The crash remains under investigation.
