Man killed in wreck with suspected drunk driver

A suspected drunk driver forced a head-on collision Friday that killed a Terrytown man in Ascension Parish, State Police reported.

Blake Dozier, 21, Plaquemine, was driving a 2003 GMC Sierra pickup north on La. 30 south of La. 3115, State Police Trooper 1st Class Jared Sandifer said Saturday in a news release.

Dozier veered across the center line and barreled head-on into a 2002 Ford F-150 pickup driven by Leonardo Estrella, the release says. Estrella, 54, was killed despite wearing a seat belt.

A Gonzales man driving a 2001 Ford Excursion was behind Estrella at the time of the wreck. That driver, Joel Leon-Hernandez, 25, crossed the center line to avoid the accident, and slammed into the passenger side of Dozier’s Sierra.

The release does not say if Dozier or Leon-Hernandez were injured.

Troopers sent a toxicology sample from Dozier to the State Police Crime Lab for analysis, the release says.

Comments

1) Comment by Mygulfbleedsforu - 03/02/2013

Who knows how bad it might be, with this many cars on the road, if there were no blood alcohol limits in the law and DWI was not an offense. These controls might be making a world of difference.

2) Comment by Attila - 03/02/2013

Just more proof that cars and trucks kill and maim people and we need stricter vehicle control laws or an outright ban on these killing machines,.

3) Comment by SuzanneMS - 03/02/2013

Or at least hire a decent copy editor. We see this kind of writing all of the time at LSU. The beginnings of the results of No Child Left Behind. Students have no understanding of the difference between formal and informal writing; they only know how to hit the factual points, with no style or facility. They also do not know the difference between fact and assumption. I'm trying to work out how he "forced a head-on collision," as if that were somehow a choice that the other driver had a part in making. I'm also confused as to who thinks that wearing a seat belt would protect anyone from dying in a head-on collision at what I assume was a high rate of speed. Let's try this for that 4th paragraph : Joel Leon-Hernandez, 25, of Gonzales, was driving a 2001 Ford Excursion behind Estrella. He crossed the center line to avoid the accident, and slammed into the passenger side of Dozier’s Sierra. He had to be driving behind him at the time of the accident; otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to avoid it. We'll leave "slammed into," just for color.

4) Comment by speakthetruth - 03/02/2013

To the Advocate; will you please send the child that wrote this "story" back to class. His 5th grade teacher is looking for him. I'm sure the troopers statement did not say "veered across the center line and barreled head on". And where in the statement did it say the driver, Dozier, was suspected to be "drunk". Did the author add the word "drunk" because blood was drawn for a toxicology report? Blood is drawn from everybody involved in the accident when there is a fatality, so are we to assume they were all drunk. Terrible news article.