A 25-year-old Bethesda man is facing charges of gross negligent manslaughter by vehicle in the death of a man killed in a March two-vehicle collision in Chevy Chase, Montgomery County police said Friday in a statement.
Detectives arrested Owen Roland Kirill Fowler on Wednesday for his role in the March 9 collision on Connecticut Avenue that killed Jobani Alfredo Cruz, 30, of Washington, D.C., and injured two others, according to police.
Fowler was transported to the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit in Rockville and released after posting 10% of a $5,000 bail, the statement said. Fowler did not have a valid driver’s license and his driving privileges had been revoked at the time of the collision, police said.
Attorney information for Fowler was not available Friday afternoon in online court records.
Around 12:19 a.m. March 9, county officers along with Chevy Chase Village police and Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service crews responded to a report of a crash involving a white 2012 Mercedes SLK convertible driven by Fowler, and a white 2023 Ram 1500 pickup truck driven by Cruz in the area of Connecticut Avenue and Quincy Street, county police said in a statement at the time.
According to a police investigation, Fowler and Cruz were engaged in a speeding contest as they traveled northbound on Connecticut Avenue. The two drivers passed other vehicles and repeatedly changed lanes before the pickup truck struck the convertible in the area of Connecticut Avenue and Primrose Street.
“Cruz’s vehicle ran off the right side of the road, struck a utility pole and multiple trees, and overturned,” police said in Friday’s statement. “Fowler’s vehicle overturned in the roadway.”
Cruz was ejected from the truck and later pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
A woman who was a passenger in the pickup truck and the man who was driving the Mercedes suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were transported to local hospitals, according to police.
The police investigation revealed Cruz “reached a top speed of 64 MPH in a 30-mph zone and struck Fowler’s vehicle,” police said. He also was driving with a recorded blood alcohol content of 0.12 BAC, which is above the legal limit, according to the statement.
