By Conner Williams Staff Writer
An intoxicated man crashed his pickup truck several times on Monmouth Avenue early Saturday, April 4, including a building and a car, according to Monmouth Police Department.
Yanel Avilla Castro, a 25-year-old, of Independence went out Friday night for drinks at Main Street Pub in Monmouth. Castro ended up causing thousands of dollars in damage on his drunken journey through downtown Monmouth as well as Western’s campus.
Castro is in custody after turning himself in around 4 a.m. the same morning. According to Sergeant Kim Dorn of MPD, he is currently facing charges of driving under the influence of intoxicants and three counts of failure to perform the duties of a driver, otherwise known as hit and run.
Castro left the bar at around 2:10 a.m. and headed toward the Shell gas station at the intersection of Main Street and Highway 99W.
“I was working inside when I saw this guy in a white truck pull up to pump one, and then he flew across the lot over to pump five where these other two guys were,” said Matt Cheney-Estes, the store clerk on shift during the incident.
“He got out of his truck and tried to get these two guys to fight him,” said Maddie Cole, a witness to the altercation at the gas station.
Cheney-Estes went outside to confront Castro, and then he returned inside to call the police, at which point the man sped out of the lot and onto Main Street in Monmouth, headed back in the direction of Monmouth Avenue.
Around 2:24 a.m., MPD started to receive multiple calls, including the one from Cheney-Estes. Castro turned right onto
Monmouth Avenue North and then crashed into 110 N. Monmouth Avenue, the building complex that houses Homestead Property
Management as well as several other businesses.
“That was the first hit and run,” said Dorn. “He then continued on Monmouth Avenue and proceeded to hit a parked car
and a tree, finally wrecking his truck in the grass area in front of the WOU education building, hitting a lamppost and a sign.”
Castro then abandoned his vehicle and set out on foot, eventually turning himself in to the police shortly afterwards.
Cheney-Estes said that a police officer came to the Shell later looking to collect witness statements and told him that Castro had caused upwards of $45,000 in damage.
“I can’t verify those figures yet, but the damage is going to be costly,” said Dorn.
If you have any additional information regarding the incident, please contact the MPD non-emergency line at-503-838-1109.
