A DUI crash left a 69-year-old woman in Delaware dead and a 76-year-old man in critical condition Saturday night.
Police said Phyllis Kessler, 69, and Melvin Kessler, 76, both of Bear, were traveling in a 2004 Pontiac Grand Am on Route 40 at the ramp to northbound Route 1 in Bear at 10:22 p.m. when a 30-year-old man driving a 2005 Ford Expedition blew through a red light and slammed into the side of their car.
Phyllis Kessler died a short time after the crash at Christiana Hospital, police said. Melvin Kessler was also taken to Christiana Hospital, where he remained Sunday in critical but stable condition.
Police said the driver of the Ford, Cristobal Guzman-Martinez, was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash but walked away from the wreckage unscathed. Guzman-Martinez, of Wilmington, was arrested at the scene for driving under the influence, vehicular homicide, vehicle assault, driving without a license and no proof of insurance.
Delaware State Police are continuing to investigate the deadly crash.
Earlier Saturday night, police said, another deadly crash involving several vehicles claimed the life of a woman in Delaware.
In that crash, which happened on DuPont Boulevard south of West Robbins Road, just outside Ellendale, police said Cheryl Green, 56, was driving a 1993 Mercury Villager minivan southbound in the northbound lanes with no headlights just after 9 p.m. Because the van had no headlights on, police said, a 2001 Volkswagen Passat driven by Tristin Lowe, 49, of Pennsylvania, headed northbound on DuPont crashed into the front of the minivan in the left lane. Both vehicles spun out and came to rest on the road, police said, when a 2012 Audi Q7 driven by Peter Gray, 68, of Massachusetts, also northbound on DuPont, also crashed into the minivan.
Green, whom police said was not wearing a seatbelt, was pronounced dead at the scene. Lowe was treated at Milford Memorial Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries and released, and Gray was treated at BeeBe Medical Center and released, police said.
A crash in the southbound lanes of DuPont Boulevard caused when drivers slowed near the deadly crash also snarled traffic in the area, police said. No one suffered severe injuries in that secondary crash.
