28-year-old accused of hitting parked car, killing man inside during pursuit now facing charges

A man accused of fleeing law enforcement and crashing into a parked car, killing the person inside, has been charged.

Lorenzo Leontay Washington, 28, faces one count of criminal vehicular homicide and one count of fleeing an officer resulting in death.

As previously reported, a state trooper tried to conduct a traffic stop on I-94 for speeding around 11:18 p.m. on Sunday. The driver initially stopped, but then sped off before the trooper could make contact with him.

During the pursuit, the driver, identified as Washington, drove recklessly. A State Patrol official on Monday said that troopers stopped pursuing and tracked him via helicopter.

According to a criminal complaint, Washington lost control of the car and went into a parking lot on the 1600 block of Arcade Street, crashing into a parked vehicle. A deputy noted that Washington was driving around 90 mph at the time of the crash.

The crash caused the parked vehicle to spin out and Day Por Tho was ejected and pronounced dead at the scene.

Court documents state Washington then ran from the vehicle. He was tased and arrested, State Patrol said.

At the hospital, Washington initially denied being the driver of the vehicle but later said things inferring that he was, according to court documents.

He spoke about the bump in the road that caused him to crash and added that he didn’t see the vehicle that he hit.

When he was asked again if he was the driver, Washington reportedly said, “You’re going to force me
to say it. I already told you wasn’t nobody else in the vehicle. I believe I told him that already.”

Authorities got a search warrant for a blood or urine sample. Court documents don’t specify the results of the tests.

Washington was also wanted for a parole violation at the time of the crash. He had been convicted of attempted murder in 2014.