Man Faces 2nd OWI After Car Crash

A 22-year-old man is facing charges after he allegedly hit a tree on Merrill Hills Road Sunday after he was driving while intoxicated, according to a criminal complaint.

Diego Tzaput Guarchaj was charged in on Monday with one count of intoxicated use of a vehicle causing great bodily harm, one count of second offense of operating while intoxicated, one count of operating while intoxicated and causing injury and one count of operating a motor vehicle after revocation of his license. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison and $38,600 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint:

At 3:44 a.m. Sunday, Guarchaj was driving at a high rate of speed northbound on Merrill Hills Road when his car left the road and struck a tree south of Sunset Drive. Two passengers in the car with him suffered significant blood loss in the incident and were severely harmed.

Guarchaj, wasn’t severely injured but was hysterical after the accident, telling officers he only had two beers before driving. He failed a field sobriety test and had a blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent at the time of the incident.

Guarchaj was convicted of his first drunken driving offense on Sept. 16.