Authorities said a Clark County District Court employee accused of causing a fatal, wrong-way crash Christmas Eve in Arizona had two vodka bottles in his truck
He told officers that he had driven from Las Vegas to purchase lottery tickets and repeatedly asked if he’d killed the other driver, according to a report from the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office.
Michael Doan, 46, was arrested after he drove his northbound Ford truck across the center line of Highway 91 in Littlefield and hit a southbound Toyota, killing Donald Thurston, 59, and injuring a passenger of the Toyota, the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office has said.
Doan, an assistant court administrator, was hired by the court in 2007. A court spokesperson previously said he was on administrative leave.
He has been indicted on counts of manslaughter, aggravated assault, failure to remain at the scene of an accident and driving under the influence, according to Mohave County Superior Court records. A court staffer said he posted a $250,000 bond.
“It’s an unfortunate situation, but we’re going to go through the process,” said Aaron Reed, Doan’s attorney.
According to the sheriff’s office report, Doan was not inside his vehicle after the crash, which appeared to be a head-on collision. Bystanders said in interviews that they thought the driver of the Ford seemed drunk and “distraught,” police said.
In the truck, officials said they found Doan’s District Court photo ID card and two bottles of Ketel One Vodka. One had a few drops left and the other was almost empty, according to the report. A backpack in the truck contained stacks of money totaling $6,120, the sheriff’s office said.
Doan was lying in the dirt about 100 years south of the scene and his breath smelled like alcohol, the report said.
A sergeant wrote in a supplemental report that Doan was “crouching” in bushes.
“Michael kept asking if he killed the other driver,” an officer wrote. “I advised Michael that the other driver was dead. Michael asked the question several more times, and I gave the same answer.”
The officer added that Doan “repeatedly stated he was sorry and that he wasn’t a bad person.” Doan also said he didn’t want to harm anyone, the sheriff’s office said.
Doan’s speech was slurred, according to the report, and the officer requested that medical units check on him; other than a slightly high heart rate, medics found that his vitals were normal.
When the officer read him his Miranda rights, Doan said “he works for the court and understands them,” according to the report.
Doan denied drinking alcohol and refused to participate in field sobriety tests, but allowed a paramedic to draw blood, the report said. He said he last drank three days before the crash, according to the sheriff’s office.
The officer wrote that Doan also asked if authorities wanted “to hear a story from a drunk guy,” before saying that his father died “in an intentional head-on crash so that his family could collect insurance money when Michael was 8 years old.”
Lonnie Thurston, Thurston’s brother, previously said that at the time of the crash, Donald Thurston and his fiancee, Melody McDonald, were driving back from dinner with a friend in St. George, Utah when another vehicle came at them head-on in their lane.
Thurston said his brother swerved to the right, which saved McDonald’s life, but meant he received the brunt of the crash impact.
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.
