A Hollister resident who would have celebrated his 21st birthday
today was killed in an alcohol-related car accident on Union Road
near Riverside Road Sunday morning. His 21-year-old best friend who
was driving drunk, according to law enforcement, could face up to
10 years in prison for gross vehicular manslaughter if
convicted.
Hollister – A Hollister resident who would have celebrated his 21st birthday today was killed in an alcohol-related car accident on Union Road near Riverside Road Sunday morning. His 21-year-old best friend who was driving drunk, according to law enforcement, could face up to 10 years in prison for gross vehicular manslaughter if convicted.
Adam Baxter, a star wrestler and football player who graduated from San Benito High School in 2002, died after being thrown through the windshield of San Juan Bautista resident Matthew Engwall’s 1997 Ford Thunderbird when the car drifted into a ditch around 3am and overturned, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Baxter was not wearing his seat belt and was taken by helicopter to Stanford Medical Center where he died a short time later, said CHP Officer Matt Ramirez. Engwall, who was wearing his seat belt, had cuts on his face and back pain, and was arrested by the CHP at Hazel Hawkins Hospital and later booked into the San Benito County Jail, Ramirez said. He was arrested with two felony DUI charges for driving with a blood alcohol level above .08 causing death, and felony gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, according to a CHP-released statement. Engwall’s exact blood alcohol level won’t be released until the district attorney’s office receives the accident report with the full investigation, Ramirez said.
Baxter’s brother, Bryan, said his younger brother had wrestled at Moorpark Junior College after high school and had been living at home for the past year before heading off to Cabrillo Junior College in the spring.
“My brother was really happy,” he said. “It was the happiest I’ve seen him in a long time. The sky was the limit.”
He said Baxter and Engwall had been inseparable since becoming friends their freshman year in high school, and what Engwall is going through “has got to be as equally bad as everyone else.”
The long-time wrestler’s brother said Baxter and his friends were planning a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate his 21st birthday. Instead, all of his friends spent the past few days at his parent’s home – rallying around the grieving family in support, he said.
“The house hasn’t been empty yet,” he said. “It’s been a really good thing to have the support for my parents.”
The Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office had not completed Baxter’s exam on Monday and was unable to give an official cause of death. After the exam, the coroner will decide whether an autopsy is needed and can perform a toxicology test to determine whether Baxter had been drinking, according to personnel.
Engwall’s arrest charge of gross vehicular manslaughter carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison if convicted, said District Attorney John Sarsfield. Engwall bailed out of jail Sunday afternoon, and the DA’s office won’t receive a copy of the report for a week or two, Sarsfield said. At that time his office will decide on formal charges, he said.
However, depending on what the CHP’s investigation reveals, the felony charge could be reduced to a misdemeanor charge of vehicular manslaughter, which usually results in one year in the county jail and participation in a treatment program, said Chief Probation Officer Deborah Botts.
“Anybody that young would most likely have the opportunity to do that,” Botts said. “These are just tragedies, and you don’t want to throw away another life, but you have to remember someone is dead because of it.”
Ramirez said there is a good chance Baxter could have survived the accident if he had been wearing his seat belt.
“Anytime you get ejected, your chances of surviving dwindle very quickly,” he said. “It’s an unfortunate thing when seat belts could have saved lives, and alcohol is definitely related and took a life.”
Engwall was traveling westbound at an unknown rate of speed around 3am on his way home to San Juan Bautista from Hollister when he let his car drift onto the dirt shoulder, which leads to an irrigation ditch, Ramirez said.
He continued driving in the ditch for nearly a quarter of a mile until the car hit a dirt berm, which was part of an irrigation ditch, he said.
The impact sent the car flying, and as it overturned twice in the air Baxter was thrown through the windshield and landed somewhere in the ditch, Ramirez said.
“We know the roadway was wet, but (Engwall) drove off the road,” Ramirez said. “He didn’t slow down, he kept on trying to go – and he ended up rolling his car when he hit the berm.”
The car landed on the shoulder on its wheels, he said.
Engwall will be arraigned in the San Benito County Superior Court on Feb. 1. He could not be located for comment.
Baxter’s family is setting up a memorial fund called the Adam Baxter Scholarship Wrestling Fund. Donation information will be included in his obituary. A memorial service will be held on Friday at noon at San Juan Oaks, and a public showing will begin at Grunnagle-Ament-Nelson funeral home at 2:30pm.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free
Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
