Quincy woman gets 4 years in DUI death

QUINCY — A Quincy woman will be spending four years in prison for driving while intoxicated and crashing into two vehicles. The crash killed a Quincy man who was a passenger in her vehicle.

Paula Sanchez Romero, 50, of Quincy, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and felony DUI. The standard sentencing range for the vehicular homicide charge is 26-34 months. Grant County Superior Court Judge David Estudillo imposed an exceptional sentence above the standard sentencing range and sentenced Sanchez Romero to 48 months. The judge imposed 17 months on the felony DUI charge.

The sentence stems from an incident on April 18, when Sanchez Romero was driving a 2005 Chrysler Pacifica east on state Route 28, about 10 miles west of Quincy, and reportedly crossed the centerline and struck another vehicle head-on. After the initial contact, her vehicle then went on to strike another vehicle, according to police records.

Sanchez Romero’s passenger, Rigoberto Tejada, 59, of Quincy, received fatal injuries in the collision and died at the scene. A driver of one of the vehicles Sanchez Romero crashed into told investigators he saw her vehicle slowly drift into the oncoming lane. Sanchez Romero told a trooper with the Washington State Patrol she had consumed six alcoholic drinks prior to getting behind the wheel.

“Sanchez was transported to Quincy hospital for her injuries. When asking Sanchez questions through a translator, I smelled an obvious odor of intoxicants coming from her breath,” wrote a trooper.

Sanchez Romero’s eyes were reportedly bloodshot and watery and she blew a .183 in her Preliminary Breath Test, according to police records. The legal blood alcohol limit for drivers in Washington is .08.