Idaho man killed, other driver in jail after head-on crash on Highway 19 in Canyon County
A Caldwell man is in jail and a Nampa man is dead after a head-on car crash Tuesday in Canyon County.
Just after 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, Idaho State Police troopers were called to the scene of a crash on Idaho Highway 19 near the intersection of Simplot Boulevard and Notus Road in Greenleaf, according to a Wednesday morning news release from ISP.
After investigating, troopers found that a Caldwell man — police have identified him as 30-year-old Pedro Avalos — was driving a Toyota Camry in the westbound lanes of the highway when he crossed the center line and hit a Ford Ranger pickup truck headed east.
The driver of the pickup, identified by police as 35-year-old Nampa man Adam Hawthorne, was taken to a Nampa hospital via ambulance. He was later pronounced dead.
Avalos was taken to a hospital in Caldwell via ambulance, though his condition was not included in the ISP news release.
By Wednesday afternoon, ISP announced that Avalos was booked into the Canyon County jail on a felony vehicular manslaughter charge, as well as a misdemeanor charge of injury to a child. There was a child in the vehicle with Avalos, authorities said.
Multiple witnesses reportedly told troopers that Avalos was “driving aggressively” just before he lost control of his vehicle and hit the pickup head-on. Troopers thanked the drivers who stopped at the crash site and reported what they saw.
The crash was still under investigation as of Wednesday morning.
Following the crash, both eastbound lanes and the left lane of westbound Idaho 19 were closed for roughly four hours while the scene was documented and cleared. State police were assisted by Canyon County Sheriff’s Office deputies, according to the news release.
This story was originally published January 20, 2021 at 8:31 AM.
