Driver In Crash That Killed Father & Sons Had 5 Prior DUI Convictions
LaSALLE, Colo. (CBS4) - Investigators say a repeat drunk driver was behind the wheel in a deadly crash that killed nearly an entire family Sunday night.
Gilbert Martinez, 37; and his two sons, Ethan, 6; and Bryson, 1; died in the crash. The suspected drunk driver, identified as Rigoberto Macias-Marquez, 44, also died.
The crash happened on Highway 85 and Weld County Road 48 near LaSalle where all the victims lived.
The Martinez family attended a church service in Greeley Sunday and then dropped off a fellow member in Platteville. They were headed back and just a few miles from home when Macias-Marquez, who state troopers believe was drunk, slammed into them.
"I have anger for the way they were taken; they were just snatched from our lives," Gilbert Martinez's uncle, Frank Martinez, said.
Frank Martinez describes his nephew as a loving father. His sons were the kind of kids who brought joy to everyone around them.
"Everybody just loved him and made that known just as he reciprocated that to all of us," Frank Martinez said. "That relationship that he had with his sons was something like I've never seen between a father and son and children relationship."
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Only the boys' mother, Mistelle Martinez, 32, survived the crash.
Troopers suspect Macias-Marquez was driving drunk -- a crime he'd already been convicted of five times in the past.
"It makes me wonder why was he not locked up somewhere to where he could not be on the street," Frank Martinez said.
Records show Macias-Marquez had served jail time for the past DUIs, but that he was probably driving with a legitimate license the night of the fatal crash.
"It's absolutely horrifying," Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke said.
Rourke says there's nothing on the books that would have kept Macias-Marquez off the road.
"I understand that there are some people who say, 'How can he be driving?' We've worked within the framework the legislature has given us," he said.
Frank Martinez says that framework must change. As he and his family mourn a devastating loss, he says they want to make sure no family can be torn apart the same way ever again.
"The way that we honor her and Gilbert and her children's loss is by not to spew the anger back, but just hope that some kind of justice can be done in the future to get this changed," he said.
The Martinez family hopes that justice comes in the form of stiffer penalties for habitual offenders.