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Man arrested 5 months after deadly hit-and-run on I-5 in Seattle

A 21-year-old man accused of killing two people on I-5 was arrested reentering the United States from Mexico.

SEATTLE — A man who is accused of killing two people and injuring a third in a crash on Interstate 5 in February has been arrested.

Antonio Lopez, 21, was arrested Sunday reentering the United States from Mexico. He was booked in San Diego County Jail and is awaiting extradition to Washington state, according to Washington State Patrol.

Lopez was charged with two counts of vehicular homicide, vehicular assault and felony hit-and-run related to the crash that occurred  Feb. 26.

On the night of the crash, court documents noted that it was snowing in Seattle and conditions were slushy and slick on I-5. At around 3 a.m., the driver of a Chevy tapped the bumper of a Mercedes on southbound I-5 near the West Seattle Bridge. Both cars spun and came to uncontrolled stops in the HOV lane.

The driver of the Mercedes got out of his car to inspect the damage to his vehicle. The occupants of the Chevy also got out of the car but returned to their vehicle a short time later.

On that night, Lopez was driving his girlfriend's Jeep to pick her up from a party in the University Village area.

A semi-truck driver who Lopez passed was "alerted to (Lopez's) extreme speed, especially given the snowy conditions and the traffic flow," according to court documents. 

Reconstruction of the crash put Lopez's speed at over 70 miles per hour, which is consistent with the damage caused. 

A minute or so after passing the semi-truck, Lopez allegedly slammed into the back of the Chevy, which then collided with the Mercedes and the driver who was still outside on the roadway. 

The driver and passenger in the Chevy, 34-year-old Skyler Thorton and 38-year-old Terrell Aaron were killed. Thorton and Aaron were cousins

The driver of the Mercedes was thrown into the roadway. He suffered broken ribs, a head injury and a lacerated liver. He was forced to crawl out of the roadway to avoid oncoming traffic, according to court documents.

A witness stopped to help and found Lopez and his girlfriend standing on the roadway between the Jeep and the Mercedes. The witness told Lopez and his girlfriend to wait in the backseat of her car. 

When a state trooper went to check the backseat, no one was there. Police found their footprints in the snow fleeing south of the collision until they disappeared. 

Police tracked down Lopez' girlfriend, who told police that she was impaired and did not remember the collision, but that the night before she had called Lopez to pick her up from a friend's birthday party and he was driving without a license. 

In April, prosecutors said Lopez was believed to have fled to Mexico to live with his grandparents. 

Prosecutors said the crash is the latest in a string of traffic violations Lopez committed over the past six years, including another fatal hit-and-run that killed a 21-year-old man in 2017. Lopez was 15 years old at the time. Lopez was brought up on charges of vehicular homicide and felony hit and run in juvenile court after striking and killing Kevin Lozoya in Issaquah.

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