A Multnomah County Circuit Court judge on Thursday sentenced Ayzaiah J. Walker of Portland to 90 months in prison for his role in a 2022 car crash that killed a 40-year-old man.
Walker pleaded guilty in November to criminally negligent homicide, assault in the third degree and driving under the influence of intoxicants.
In his plea agreement, he admitted that on Jan. 22, 2022, he drove “at an excessive rate of speed, ran a red light while under the influence of intoxicants and struck another vehicle, causing the death of Douglas Kereczman” and injuring another person.
Walker, then 22, crashed the 2008 Honda Accord he was driving into a 1998 Toyota Camry at Southeast McLoughlin and Holgate boulevards in Portland, according to police records and court documents.
Kereczman, who was a passenger in the Camry, died at the scene.
Walker and the two passengers in the Accord fled from the crash on foot. Portland police officers found Walker hiding behind a nearby Shell gas station, according to court documents. An officer said in a probable cause affidavit that Walker smelled of alcohol, slurred his words and had a swollen lip and injuries to his knees.
The affidavit said Walker initially claimed he was in the backseat of the Accord “and said he wasn’t supposed to be driving and is suspended and has pending charges for ‘speed racing stuff.’”
Walker later admitted he was driving after the officer “pointed out the surveillance cameras at the gas station.”
-- The Oregonian/OregonLive