11:24 AM MST on Friday, April 2, 2004

By L. Anne Newell
© 2004 ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Officials have charged a 20-year-old Tucson man with second-degree murder, accusing him of causing a drunken-driving accident that killed his friend late Wednesday, then calling friends to help him flee.

Andrew L. Sinn told three friends who showed up at the accident, at the Catalina Highway and East Prince Road, that Alex D. Calvarese III, 19, was fine, going as far as pretending to talk to the dead man in front of them, said Sgt. Karl Woolridge, head of the Pima County Sheriff's Department traffic unit.

"He was trying to convince his friends not to call the police, to the point he was telling them Alex was OK and actually walking over and pretending to talk to him and telling them he said he was OK when he was trapped inside dead," Woolridge said.

One friend drove Sinn from the scene, but the two others remained, Woolridge said, and gave deputies Sinn's cell phone number. The deputies called the man and convinced him to return to the scene about 15 minutes later. After being treated for a hand injury, he was arrested and taken to the Pima County jail, where he remained late Thursday in lieu of $1 million bond.

The incident marked the second time this week that someone was charged with murder after causing an accident that killed a friend, officials said.

On Monday, Daniel D. Ranka, 22, lost control of his Ford Bronco on the Northwest Side and overcorrected, causing the SUV to roll. The wreck killed Parker D. Nelson, also 22, and Ranka was jailed on a second-degree murder charge. He remained jailed Thursday on $500,000 bond. He also faces an aggravated assault charge for the crash, which also injured him and two other men in the vehicle.

Woolridge wasn't sure where Sinn and Calvarese were before the 10:50 p.m. accident but said Sinn showed obvious signs of being under the influence.

"In speaking with him, he was drunk," Woolridge said. "He admitted to drinking and he's underage."

Court records show he's had problems with drinking and speeding before.

Sinn pleaded guilty to underage drunken driving in March 2003 and was cited for speeding in January 2001 and March 2002. He also pleaded guilty to another case involving alcohol last August. That same month, he admitted responsibility for speeding and causing an accident and pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident.

Further details on the cases were not immediately available late Thursday.

The Wednesday crash occurred as Sinn drove his Jeep Cherokee east on Prince Road.

He went off the road to the right, Woolridge said, then overcorrected as he returned to the road. The move caused the SUV to essentially turn sideways, he said, and it overturned, rolling at least once and coming to rest on its top, crushing Calvarese.

"It crushed the roof line down to pretty much the bottom of the passenger side," he said.

When questioned, Sinn also told investigators that Calvarese had been driving, Woolridge said, and had changed seats after the crash. Officials knew that couldn't be true, he said, because the younger man was trapped where he sat, still fastened by his seat belt.

Sinn likely will face additional charges for the wreck, Woolridge said, including leaving the scene of an accident. The 21-year-old friend who helped him flee also could face charges, he said. The group of young men apparently knew one another from high school, though Woolridge wasn't sure where they'd attended school.

In addition to Ranka's wreck, in the 8100 block of North Cerius Stravenue, north of Cortaro Farms Road and east of Interstate 10, there was a crash on the Northwest Side on March 19 that killed two Ironwood Ridge High School students.

Although alcohol isn't suspected in that accident, which claimed the lives of Jessica Marie Kleya, 16, and Alisa Michelle Wallendorf, 15, investigators say the girls were traveling at more than 80 mph when they crashed, in a 35-mph zone.

Woolridge said a witness to that crash described the car as being like something from the "Dukes of Hazzard" TV show, in that it was high above the road as it topped a hill, just before Kleya lost control and crashed.

The deaths should serve as a warning to other young adults that they should never drink and drive and that safe driving habits can save lives, he said.

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