Driver Charged In Fatal Crash Spokane Man Accused Of Being Drunk, Running Light

A Spokane man suspected of causing a fatal accident in April was charged this week with vehicular homicide.

Cephas Parham is accused of driving drunk and running a red light at Howard and Maxwell, starting a three-car pileup that killed one of his passengers and hurt three other people.

Parham, 20, also is charged with three counts of vehicular assault in the April 26 wreck. He is being held in jail on $50,000 bond.

Charles Albert Mullen, 27, died about 30 minutes after the 7:15 a.m. crash.

Police completed their investigation into the collision last month, and prosecutors issued the charges Monday.

“It’s not unusual for these things to take six to nine months,” said Deputy Prosecutor Steve Tucker.

Tests showed Parham’s blood-alcohol level was 0.16 shortly after the crash, according to court documents filed Monday. State law sets the limit at 0.10.

Witnesses said Parham was driving erratically just before the wreck, which occurred three days after authorities announced a crackdown on people running red lights.

Several people reported seeing him swing his 1979 Oldsmobile Cutlass from one side of Howard to the other, barely missing telephone poles and traffic signs.

Others said he was “fishtailing” and driving at speeds approaching 70 mph in front of North Central High School, according to court records.

Brandon Allen, a student on his way to North Central that morning, told police Parham ignored the traffic light at Maxwell, which had been red for some time.

“(Allen) observed that the light was red and thought that the other car would never stop in time,” the records state. “He will testify that the car never even tried to stop. He saw no brake lights or slowing of the vehicle before it entered the intersection.”

Linda Dunphy was driving her 1986 Dodge Omni east on Maxwell when Parham entered the crossroads.

Dunphy hit the Cutlass broadside, crumpling it like an aluminum can and sending it skidding into District 81 school bus No. 113 headed north on Howard.

The force of the collision folded the roof of the Oldsmobile and bent the frame.

None of the students in the bus was hurt, but Mullen later died at the hospital.

Alesha McDonald, a 15-year-old girl also riding in Parham’s car, sustained massive internal injuries.

Surgeons removed her ruptured spleen, and she was in a coma and on life support for several days after the crash. McDonald still is recovering from her injuries, court documents said.

Another passenger, Justin Baugh, also underwent surgery after the wreck.

Dunphy, who broke her right arm, is still seeing a physical therapist for her injury, the court records state.

, DataTimes