A 45-year-old man faces vehicular homicide charges after allegedly killing his friend in a high-speed crash whilst fleeing Washington State Patrol troopers in Everett over the weekend.
Victor Perez-Cortes was booked into Snohomish County jail and is being held on £2 million bail following the Saturday morning incident that left one dead and exposed dangerous levels of intoxication from both men involved.
The chain of events began around 2:30 a.m. when a state trooper stopped a 2025 Kia K4 on Evergreen Way and West Marilyn Avenue. According to court records, the trooper suspected the original driver was impaired and began conducting a field sobriety test.
The situation escalated when the driver fled on foot before returning to the vehicle. At that point, Perez-Cortes moved from the passenger seat to behind the wheel whilst the original driver jumped into the passenger seat, and Perez-Cortes sped away from the scene.
Troopers pursued the Kia northbound on Evergreen Way until it crashed at high speed into a building. The collision killed the passenger, whose identity has not been released, and injured Perez-Cortes.
Police discovered several open alcohol containers and crack cocaine inside the vehicle following the crash. Perez-Cortes was transported to Providence Medical Center, where breath tests revealed a blood-alcohol content of 0.27, more than three times Washington’s legal limit of 0.08.
According to the arrest report, Perez-Cortes admitted to consuming two shots of tequila and seven beers, as well as drinking in the vehicle with the deceased passenger before the fatal crash.
The incident highlights the compounding dangers of impaired driving and police pursuits, resulting in a preventable death that involved multiple poor decisions by both men. The case remains under investigation by Everett police and Washington State Patrol.
Perez-Cortes faces vehicular homicide charges, with prosecutors likely to argue that his decision to drive whilst severely intoxicated and flee police directly caused his friend’s death.
