5 people, including young couple and child, killed in wrong-way crash with suspected DUI driver

KINGMAN, Ariz. (KPHO/Gray News) - Authorities in Arizona say a wrong-way crash over the weekend took the lives of five people, including a young family.

According to the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the collision occurred on U.S. 93 around 2 a.m. Saturday near White Hills, about 40 miles north of Kingman.

Troopers say a suspected drunken driver was going north in a southbound lane when the Jeep crashed head-on with a Hyundai station wagon.

The vehicle caught fire, killing everyone involved.

Ryan Yonts, who lives in California, said he learned that his best friend, Jason Ortiz, along with his wife and child, were the ones killed in the Hyundai.

Yonts said Ortiz was traveling in the station wagon with his wife, Madeleine, and his young daughter, Jennilee.

Yonts is ing Ortiz as a loving father and someone whom he will miss dearly.

“He was a really nice guy. He was just super and a hard worker,” he said.

Authorities did not immediately identify the suspected DUI driver or his enger, who also lost their lives in the crash.

Unfortunately, Saturday’s crash is part of a trend that troopers say they are seeing more of.

Last year, from January to May, there were five deadly wrong-way crashes with seven people killed. So far this year, there have been four deadly wrong-way crashes, with eight people killed.

DPS spokesperson Bart Graves said that impairment was a factor in nearly all of the deadly wrong-way crashes this year.

“I just wish that [people] wouldn’t drink and drive,” Yonts said. “It’s just devastating. I don’t think a lot of people realize the impacts of what they do until after it happens.”

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