JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Orlando Lopez-Vasquez, the Jacksonville man arrested and charged with driving impaired in a wrong-way crash that killed three Thursday, pleaded guilty in a previous DUI in 2020, police records show.
A report from his arrest on February 5, 2020, showed that he was arrested after nearly hitting a Florida Highway Patrol trooper who was conducting a traffic stop.
He was sentenced to six months probation and three days in jail.
Friday, Lopez-Vasquez was arrested again after police responded to the scene of the wrong-way crash which killed three family members in the 8400 block of Merrill Road around 9:40 p.m. Thursday. The first officer to respond to the scene wrote in a report that after the crash, Orlando Lopez Vasquez told him he did not know where he was coming from and was "confused about where he was at."
The officer could smell alcohol on his breath and he had bloodshot and watery eyes, according to the report. "He used the side of Ofc. Jennings vehicle a couple times... appeared to be using it for balance. When he spoke, he seemed slur and have a thick tongue at times," the report says.
He told officers he had a "maximum" of half of beer at lunch because his tooth hurt from wisdom teeth surgery, so he "swished the beer around in his mouth."
He had a blood alcohol level between .179 and .189 -- about twice the legal limit, according to police documents.
A judge ordered Lopez-Vasquez to be held without bond at his first appearance in Duval County Court Friday.