DUNWOODY, Ga. — Investigators say a man accused of hitting and killing and 8-year-old had a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit.
“He noticed the strong odor of alcoholic beverage, he also noticed that his eyes were bloodshot, droopy,” described Sgt. Chris Forman with the Dunwoody Police Department during a probable cause hearing for Jose Alejandro Cuahuizo-Varela on Tuesday.
Channel 2’s Candace McCowan learned more about what officers found on the access road to Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, in the moments after the car Maryah Johnson was riding in was hit.
Cuahuizo-Varela is charged with driving under the influence and homicide by vehicle. In court Tuesday, Sgt. Forman said the results of a blood test run by the GBI was .184.
The suspect is accused of slamming into a Honda Civic in September. In the car was a family, including several children.
Maryah later died at the hospital, and her cousin was left with a head injury and now lives with a metal plate in his head.
When the crash happened, Cuahuizo-Varela was out on bond, accused in a DUI and hit-and-run case in Brookhaven.
For Maryah’s case, Cuahuizo-Varela has a $250,000 bond.
But even if he did make bond, he wouldn’t be free. Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed an immigration detainer on Varela who entered the US illegally.
In Maryah’s case, he was also charged with driving without a license and hit and run.
“Doraville officers when they arrived, they had seen him attempting to climb a fence. He was unsuccessful, and he was at that point detained by officers on the scene,” said Sgt. Forman.
But Tuesday, a judge decided the hit-and-run charge would be dismissed.
“The defendant was on scene when the officers arrived, he did not actually make it away from the scene,” said Nolan Slifko with the Dekalb County District Attorney’s Office.
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